LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


LINCOLN'S   PLAN   OF 
RECONSTRUCTION 


Iuntoln'0 


of 


By 

CHARLES    H.    McCARTHY 
PH.D.  (Pa.) 


$cto  Horfe 

McCLURE,  PHILLIPS  &  CO. 
MCMI 


Copyright,   IQOI,   by 
McCLURE,    PHILLIPS    &   CO. 


PUBLISHED    NOVEMBER,    190! 


CONTENTS 

Page 

INTRODUCTION xv 

I 
TENNESSEE 

Election  and  Policy  of  Lincoln        .         .         .         •         .1 
East  Tennessee     .         .         ......       3 

Secession       .          ...          .          .         .         •          .8 

Federal  Victories  .         . 10 

A  Military  Governor      .         .          .          .          .          •         .  n 

Origin  of  Military  Governors  in  the  United  States     .       •  «"    12 
Measures  of  Governor  Johnson        .         .         .         .  17 

Negro  Troops       ........     2O 

Nashville  Convention  of  1863          .          .          .          .          .21 

Proclamation  of  Amnesty  and  Reconstruction  .         .         .     23 
Steps  to  Restoration        .          .          .          .          .         .         •     27 

Nashville  Convention  of  1865          .          .          .         .          -3° 

Election  of  William  G.  Brownlow  .          .          .         .          •     32 

Nomination  of  Lincoln  and  Johnson         .          .          .          •     32 
Presidential  Election  in  Tennessee  .         .         .         .         •     34 

II 

LOUISIANA 

Popularity  of  Secession  .......     36 

Financial  Embarrassment        .          .          .          .          .          -37 

Capture  of  New  Orleans        .          .          .          .          .          •     3^ 

Lincoln's  Advice  ........     38 

General  Shepley  appointed  Military  Governor  .          .          -39 


vi  CONTENTS 

Page 

Election  of  Representatives  to  Congress  .  •  .  -45 

Division  among  Unionists       .          .  .  .  .  .     47 

Military  Operations        .         .         .  .  •  •  .     49 

Lincoln  Urges  Reconstruction          .  .  .  .  .     51 

Political  Activity  among  Loyalists    .  .  .  .  -53 

Title  of  Louisiana  Claimants  .          .  .  ..  .     58 

Opposition  to  General  Banks           ,  .  •  .  '.  .61 

Plan  of  Reconstruction  proposed      .  .  .  .  .66 

Election  of  1864  .                -.»  •'   '    .  .  .  .'  .     70 

Inauguration  of  Civil  Government  .  .  .  .  .     72 

Lincoln's  Letter  on  Negro  Suffrage  .  *  .  -73 

Constitutional  Convention       .         .  .  .  •     75 

Congressional  Election  .         .         .  .  .  .  .     76 

III 

ARKANSAS 

Indifference  to  Secession         .         .  .  .  .  •     77 

The  Fall  of  Sumter        .         .         ,      "'.  .  .  .78 

Seizure  of  Little  Rock   .         .         .  ...  •     79 

Military  Matters    .          .         .         .  .  .  ...     79 

Threat  of  Seceding  from  Secession  .  .  .  .  .     82 

General  Phelps  appointed  Military  Governor  .  .  .82 

Enthusiasm  of  Unionists         .         .  .  .  .  -83 

Lincoln's  Interest  in  Arkansas         .  .  .  .  -83 

Inaugurating  a  Loyal  Government  .  .  .  .  .84 

The  Election  of  1864    •         •         •  •  •  •  .90 

IV 

VIRGINIA 

Secession      .         .                   .         .  v  .«   .      .  .     93 

Physical  Features  and  Early  Settlements  .  *  .  .     94 

Society  and  Its  Basis     -.  :       .        •*  ....  *  .     95 


CONTENTS  vii 

Page 

The  Counter-Revolution          .          .          .         .  .  -97 

Convention  at  Wheeling          .          .          .          .  .  -99 

Organizing  a  Union  Government    .          .          .  .  .100 

Legislature  of  Restored  Virginia       .          .          .  .  .   103 

The  State  of  Kanawha  .          .          .          .          .  .  .105 

Attorney-General  Bates  on  Dismemberment      .  .  .105 

Making  a  New  State      *          .          .          .          .  .  .107 

Compensated  Emancipation     .          .          .          .  .  .108 

Formation  of  New  State  discussed  in  Congress  .  .no 

Cabinet  on  Dismemberment   .          .          .          .  .  .120 

Lincoln  on  Dismemberment   .          ...        .  .  .124 

Webster's  Prediction      .          .          .          *         .  «  .126 

Inauguration  of  New  State      .          .         ,          ,  .  .   128 

Reorganizing  the  Restored  State       .          »          *  «  '  .    1 29 

Right  of  Commonwealth  to  Representation  in  Congress  .   131 

Rupture  between  Civil  and  Military  Authorities  .  .j  133 

The  President  Interposes         .          .          .          .  .  *35 

Congress  Refuses  to  Admit  a  Senator-Elect       .  .  .138 


ANTI-SLAVERY   LEGISLATION 

Compensated  Emancipation  in  Congress  ....   143 

Contrabands        '.-....          .          .          .          .          .   143 

The  Military  Power  and  Fugitive  Slaves  ....   144 

Lincoln  on  Military  Emancipation  .....    148 

Andrew  Jackson  and  Nullification   .          .          .          .          .151 

Lincoln  on  Compensated  Emancipation    .          .          .          .152 

Compensated  Emancipation  in  Delaware  ....    155 

Abandoned  Slaves          ..1;      .          .          .          .          .          .160 

Border  Policy  Propounded       .          .          .          .          .          .163 

General  Hunter  and  Military  Emancipation       .          .          .168 
Slavery  Prohibited  in  the  Territories        .  .          .          .          .170 


viii  CONTENTS 

Page 

Attitude  of  Border  States  on  Slavery         .         .         .         .172 
Lincoln  Resolves  to  Emancipate  Slaves  by  Proclamation     .   177 


VI 

THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  Presidential  Plan     .       '<*       '  .          .        V         .  .   190 

Sumner's  Theory  of  State  Suicide    .         .        V        •  .  196 

"  Conquered  Province  "  Theory  of  Stevens        A         .  .211 

Theory  of  Northern  Democrats       .         .         *         ;  .217 

Crittenden  Resolution    .         .         •         •         •         .  .  220 

VII 

RISE   OF   THE   CONGRESSIONAL   PLAN 

Bill  to  Guarantee  a  Republican  Form  of  Government  .   224 

Henry  Winter  Davis  on  Reconstruction  ...         ...  .   226 

House  Debates  on  Bill  of  Wade  and  Davis       .         *  .  236 

Pendleton's  Speech  on  Reconstruction      .         ,         .  -257 

Provisions  of  Wade-Davis  Bill         .         *         .         »  .  262 

Senate  Debate  on  Bill  of  Wade  and  Davis         »      ...*  .•;..  .  264 

President's  Pocket  Veto  .         .         .         »         .  .  273 

Proclamation  concerning  Reconstruction  »         .  .  278 

Manifesto  of  Wade  and  Davis         .         .         .         .  .  279 

VIII 

AN   ATTEMPT   TO   COMPROMISE 

President  ignores  Controversy  with  Congress     .         .  .286 

Summary  of  Military  and  Naval  Situation  .          .  .   288 

Attempt  to  Revive  the  Pocketed  Bill          .          .       ;>  .   289 

House  Debates  on  Ashley's  Reconstruction  Bill         ,  .  291 

Defeat  of  Ashley's  Bill  .         .         .         '.       '  \  ' .     V  .311 


CONTENTS  ix 

IX 

THE   ELECTORAL   VOTE   OF  LOUISIANA 

Page 

Resolution  excluding  Electoral  Votes  of  Rebellious  States  .  314 

Amendment  of  Senator  Ten  Eyck  .          .          .      -  :iii.  _  .  315 

Senate  Debate  on  Ten  Eyck's  Amendment       .          .  -316 

Defeat  of  the  Amendment  in  favor  of  Louisiana        'y'i  .   334 

Senate  Passes  Joint  Resolution        ..        ..        ..        *.  -338 

Counting  the  Electoral  Vote  .       „.         .*,         J"-"      *  .  339 

The  President's  Message       >»         *        J        »       '  *  .  339 

X 

SENATE   DEBATE   ON   LOUISIANA 

Congressmen  from  Louisiana  at  the  National  Capital  .  341 

Proposal  to  Recognize  Louisiana     *         v      .'...       .  .  343 
Powell's  Speech  opposing  Recognition      ....  344 

Henderson's  Argument  for  Recognition    .          .          .  .  348 

Howard's  Argument  in  Opposition  .        .'..        \         .  .  358 

Reverdy  Johnson's  Speech  for  Recognition        .         .  -37° 

General  Discussion  on  Louisiana     .          ,         +        ».  .  374 

XI 

INCIDENTS   OF   RECONSTRUCTION 

The  Thirteenth  Amendment  .         .         *,        .         »  .  384 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau          .          .         .          .          /  .  385 

Volunteer  Diplomats      .         .        .^        „•        »' .      »,  .  389 

The  Hampton  Roads  Conference    .         »         .         .  .  395 

Lincoln's  Letter  to  General  Hurlbut         »         .         »  .401 

Lincoln's  Letter  to  General  Canby .         V        .         .  .  402 

Lincoln's  Last  Words  on  Reconstruction          .;     ;  *,   !  .  403 


CONTENTS 


XII 

CULMINATION  OF   THE   PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN 

Page 

Lincoln  and  the  South  .  »  *  .  .  .  .  407 
Inauguration  of  Andrew  Johnson  .  .  I  .  .408 
Arkansas  after  the  War  *  ...'..'  .  ^  .  409 

Condition  of  Tennessee       •:...-.         ,         .       ,  *;         .412 

Louisiana     .         .»         ••         .          .          .  417 

Reorganization  of  Virginia     ..          .         /        .         *          .  425 
The  Wreck  of  the  Confederacy      .         *         .         .         .431 
Andrew  Johnson  on  Reconstruction  in  1864     •          •          •  43^ 
Johnson's  Speeches  after  Accession  to  the  Presidency          .  440 
Raising  the  Blockade      .......  444 

The  Executive  Department  Recognizes  Virginia  .  .  445 
Restoration  of  North  Carolina  .  •  .  .  .  448 

The  President  Hesitates 458 

Executive  Policy  in  Mississippi         .....  460 

Restoration  of  Georgia  .......  465 

Texas          ".  .          .          .          .          .          .          .  466 

The  Reconstruction  Conventions     .....  468 

Temper  of  the  South     .          .          .          .          .          .  \       .   472 

Mississippi  Legislation  relative  to  Freedmen      .         .;       -475 
Southern  Reaction          .          .          .          .          .          •          •  482 

The  President's  Change  of  Opinion  .  .  .  -487 
Examination  of  Lincoln's  Plan  .  .  .  *  .  491 


APPENDIX   A 

THIRTY-SEVENTH  CONGRESS  .        ..       ..         *        »         .  499 

APPENDIX    B 
THIRTY-EIGHTH  CONGRESS 502 


Preface 

MUCH  of  the  material  included  in  this  volume 
was  collected  several  years  ago  while  the 
author  was  a  graduate  student  at  the  Uni 
versity  of  Pennsylvania.  The  researches  then  com 
menced  probably  jirst  suggested  to  him  the  lack  in  our 
political  literature  of  an  ample  and  interesting  account 
of  the  return  of  the  States.  Students,  librarians,  and 
even  professors  of  history  knew  no  adequate  treatise  on 
the  era  of  reconstruction,  and  their  testimony  was  con 
firmed  by  the  authority  of  Mr.  Eryce,  who  happily 
describes  the  succession  of  events  in  those  crowded  times 
as  forming  one  of  the  most  intricate  chapters  of  Ameri 
can  history.  No  apology  is  offered,  therefore,  for 
considering  in  this  essay  so  important  and  so  long-neg 
lected  a  theme  as  the  rise  of  the  political  revolution  that 
occurred  before  reunion  was  finally  accomplished. 

On  the  general  subject  several  excellent  monographs 
have  recently  appeared;  these,  however,  are  nearly  all 
employed  in  discussing  the  second  stage  in  the  process 
of  restoration,  and,  except  incidentally,  anticipate 
scarcely  anything  of  value  in  the  present  work,  which, 
so  far  at  least  as  concerns  any  logical  exposition,  con- 


XI 


xii  PREFACE 

ducts  the  reader  over  untraveled  ground.  As  the 
introduction  indicates  with  sufficient  accuracy  both  the 
scope  and  method  of  this  study,  nothing  is  required  here 
beyond  a  concise  statement  of  the  author  s  obligations. 

Like  many  other  students  of  American  institutions, 
the  writer  cheerfully  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to 
the  works  of  Brownson,  Hurd  and  Jameson,  and,  by 
transferring  some  of  their  opinions  to  his  book,  has 
shown  a  practical  appreciation  of  their  researches.  In 
addition  to  these  obligations,  in  which  the  author  is  not 
singular,  he  profited  for  four  years  by  the  lectures  of 
Dr.  Francis  N.  Thorpe,  his  professor  in  constitutional 
history.  Except  in  a  very  few  instances,  where  the 
name  of  an  author  was  forgotten,  credit  for  both  sug 
gestions  and  material  is  uniformly  given  in  the  refer 
ences  and  footnotes. 

For  the  selection,  arrangement,  and  treatment  of 
topics  the  author  alone  is  responsible ;  he  desires,  how 
ever,  to  take  this  opportunity  of  acknowledging  generous 
assistance  received  from  three  intimate  friends:  his 
colleague,  Dr.  Charles  P.  Henry,  found  time  in  the 
midst  of  arduous  literary  engagements  to  read  the  whole 
of  the  manuscript  and  to  make  many  valuable  sugges 
tions,  especially  in  matters  of  style  and  diction ;  the 
book  is  not  less  fortunate  in  having  been  critically  read 
by  Thomas  J.  Meagher,  Esq.,  whose  extensive  and 
accurate  knowledge  of  public  as  well  as  private  law 
contributed  to  a  more  clear  and  scientific  statement  of 


PREFACE  xiii 

many  of  the  constitutional  questions  discussed;  the 
technical  skill  and  the  superior  intelligence  of  Mr. 
George  M.  Schell  'were  of  considerable  assistance  to  the 
author  in  correcting  the  proofs  of  the  entire  book.  Nor 
must  he  omit  to  record  his  appreciation  of  the  courtesy 
of  Mr.  L.  E.  Hewitt,  the  efficient  librarian  of  the 
Philadelphia  Law  Association.  Finally  the  writer 
gratefully  acknowledges  his  chief  obligation  to  the  schol 
arship  of  his  former  teacher,  Dr.  John  Bach  Mc- 
Master,  who  kindly  interrupted  the  progress  of  his 
great  historical  work  long  enough  to  read  a  considerable 
portion  of  this  essay.  Indeed,  it  was  the  encourage 
ment  of  that  eminent  author  which  first  suggested  the 
publication  of  these  pages. 

Before  concluding  his  remarks  the  writer  wishes  to 
disclaim  any  sympathy  with  the  progressive  school  of 
historical  criticism,  which  derides  the  Constitution  as  a 
thing  of  the  past  and  learnedly  characterizes  all  vener 
ation  for  its  authority  as  the  worship  of  a  fetich.  This 
book  will  have  attained  one  of  its  principal  purposes  if, 
in  the  language  of  a  distinguished  surviving  statesman 
of  the  war  period,  it  will  teach  "  the  constant  and  ever- 
important  lesson  that  the  Constitution  is  always  a  more 
reliable  guide  for  the  legislator  than  those  fierce  passions 
which  war  never  fails  to  excite." 

PHILADELPHIA,  September  14,  1901. 


INTRODUCTION 

SO  closely  blended  with  the  essential  principles  of  our 
federal  system  of  government  were  the  causes  of 
the  Civil  War  that  a  clear  understanding  of  its  re 
sults  appears  to  require  some  account  of  the  origin,  the 
independence  and  the  permanent  union  of  these  States. 
Upon  the  eventful  years  between  the  Treaty  of  Paris  and 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  crowded  as  they  are  with 
work  of  note,  one  could  linger  with  pleasure ;  this  epoch, 
however,  has  already  engaged  the  pens  of  so  many  writers, 
eminent  as  well  as  obscure,  that  a  re-study  of  the  blunders 
of  England's  ministers  and  the  revolt  of  her  distant  col 
onies  might  justly  be  regarded  as  a  piece  of  presumption. 

Nor  does  it  seem  necessary  to  recite  the  familiar  achieve 
ments  of  the  succeeding  period ;  for,  perhaps,  the  portion 
of  American  history  most  attractive  to  the  general  reader 
is  included  between  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  and  the  4th  of 
March,  1789.  To  these  years  belong  the  most  conspicu 
ous  services  of  that  giant  race  of  leaders  whose  swords  re 
lieved  a  gallant  people  from  oppression  and  whose  wisdom 
established  a  form  of  government  not,  indeed,  in  universal 
harmony  with  popular  prejudice,  but  admirably  designed 
for  the  popular  welfare. 

It  was  at  the  outset  of  what  may  properly  be  styled 
the  national  era  that  there  appeared  the  remarkable  group 
of  statesmen  who  guided  the  infant  Republic  on  its  dim 
and  perilous  way.  On  their  broad  experience  gleamed 

xv 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

a  vision  of  the  future  touching  all  their  work  with  elements 
of  immortality.  By  them  was  skillfully  established  a  system 
of  revenue  and  of  finance  adequate  to  all  the  exigencies  of 
the  time,  and  a  foreign  policy  inaugurated  which  for  gen 
erations  together  preserved  unbroken  harmony  with  the 
world  outside.  They  doubled  by  wise  and  peaceful  acqui 
sition  the  area  of  that  Union  whose  independence  had  been 
wrested  from  George  the  Third,  and  with  no  less  wisdom 
prescribed  the  procedure  and  defined  the  jurisdiction  of 
Federal  courts. 

The  forty  years  following  March  4,  1789,  form  an 
epoch  with  characteristics  of  its  own.  This  was  the  period 
of  Virginian  ascendency,  the  Adamses  alone  breaking  the 
line  of  illustrious  Presidents  furnished  by  the  Old  Domin 
ion.  Introduced  by  an  experiment  in  government  which 
aroused  the  slumbering  energies  of  the  nation,  its  conclu 
sion  was  marked  by  the  disappearance  from  political  life 
of  the  splendid  ideals  and  rich  traditions  of  the  Fathers. 

The  election  of  General  Jackson  coincides  with  the  be 
ginning  of  a  new  phase  in  American  political  and  industrial 
development.  It  was  not  that  the  fame  of  a  splendid 
military  record  had  raised  its  possessor  to  an  office  for 
which  long  experience  in  governmental  affairs  had  hitherto 
been  thought  indispensable,  or  that  the  selection  of  Presi 
dents  had  passed  from  an  intellectual  few  to  the  control  of 
a  much  more  numerous  class  who  were  willing  to  bestow 
on  politics  the  attention  and  energy  requisite  for  success  in 
trade ;  but  it  was  about  this  time  that  the  imperious  power  of 
slavery  entered  upon  its  career  of  aggression.  Philosophic 
statesmen  of  a  previous  epoch  had  ardently  hoped  that  the 
institution  would  be  permitted  quietly  to  disappear ;  indeed, 
the  greatest  among  them,  though  divided  upon  a  multitude 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

of  political  and  economic  questions,  agreed  in  encouraging 
every  movement  designed  for  its  extinction.  These  hu 
mane  efforts,  however,  were  not  destined  to  win  immediate 
success,  and  even  with  the  cooperation  of  the  General 
Government  served  only  to  demonstrate  the  difficulty  of 
such  an  undertaking. 

After  1820  all  the  dangers  which  menaced  the  integrity 
of  the  Union  were,  with  one  notable  exception,  traceable 
to  this  cause.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  discussions  with 
Senator  Douglas  declared  that  it  was  the  sole  cause  of  all 
the  troubles  which  had  disturbed  the  nation,  he  meant, 
probably,  to  assert  no  more  than  that  in  his  own  time  it  had 
been  the  most  conspicuous  one. 

Long  before  slavery  became  a  subject  of  embittered  con 
troversy  the  doctrine  of  State  Rights  had  agitated  the 
country.  As  early  as  the  summer  of  1793  it  had  found  in 
Justice  Iredell  an  able  advocate  on  the  bench  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court.  For  party  purposes  it  was  adopted 
five  years  later  by  Madison  and  Jefferson  in  the  celebrated 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions,  and  during  the  second 
war  with  Great  Britain  these  statesmen  were  startled  to 
find  New  England  Federalism  vindicating  its  unpatriotic, 
if  not  treacherous,  conduct  in  the  exact  language  which 
they  had  invented  to  embarrass  a  former  administration. 
With  this  instrument,  too,  Calhoun  in  1832  shook  the 
foundations  of  the  Union.  Both  Northern  and  Southern 
statesmen  of  that  generation,  however,  pushed  the  principle 
of  State  sovereignty  as  far  only  as  their  immediate  object 
seemed  to  require. 

It  is  a  popular  mistake  to  suppose  that  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  South  this  erroneous  doctrine  found  little 
favor  in  the  minds  of  men;  for  on  the  eve  of  the  War  of 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

1 8 1 2  a  Governor  of  conservative  Pennsylvania  had  armed 
her  citizen-soldiers  against  Federal  power. 

The  illustrious  Marshall  could  relate  how,  before  the 
highest  tribunal  in  the  land,  its  champions  with  unwearied 
zeal  renewed  the  battle  for  a  hopeless  cause.  The  eloquent 
voice  of  Webster  hushed  for  a  time  the  fretful  agitation  of 
South  Carolina  statesmen,  and  his  genius  fixed  in  imper 
ishable  literary  form  that  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
which  called  forth  the  abundant  resources  of  both  the 
Nation  and  the  States.  In  his  conquering  words  lived 
those  elevated  thoughts  that  in  future  years  sustained  the 
defenders  of  the  Republic. 

President  Jackson,  for  the  energy  and  promptness  by 
which  he  defeated  the  projects  of  the  Nullifiers,  has  been 
justly  eulogized ;  but,  when  the  excitement  of  the  hour 
had  passed  away,  the  calmer  judgment  of  even  his  admir 
ers  perceived  that  victory  inclined  rather  to  the  side  of 
Calhoun. 

Discussion  of  the  abstract  question  of  State  sovereignty 
might,  probably,  have  long  continued  without  endanger 
ing  the  Union  had  the  principle  not  been  invoked  to  de 
fend  the  institution  of  human  servitude;  yoked  to  that 
powerful  interest  it  was  inevitable  that  both  should  go 
down  together  in  undistinguishable  ruin. 

From  the  Protean  fount  of  slavery  flowed  an  hundred 
various  streams  coloring  almost  every  important  question 
in  the  tide  of  events.  In  the  generation  between  the 
election  of  General  Jackson  and  the  inauguration  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  its  defeats  were  few,  its  triumphs  numerous  and 
important.  Prosperity  revealed  its  weaknesses  and  en 
couraged  its  experiments.  The  fruits  of  its  greatest  vic 
tory,  the  dismemberment  of  Mexico,  revived  those  stormy 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

scenes  which  thirty  years  before  had  for  the  first  time  been 
witnessed  in  an  American  legislative  hall.  Dissolution  of 
the  Union  was  once  more  threatened,  and  again  averted 
by  the  genius  and  patriotism  of  the  venerable  triumvirate, 
who  scarce  outlived  their  noble  work ;  but  the  compromise 
from  which  Clay,  Calhoun  and  Webster  expected  a  restora 
tion  of  former  tranquillity  contained  within  itself  the  very 
seed-plot  of  even  graver  troubles. 

After  1850  the  attachment  of  Southern  men  to  their  in 
dustrial  system  was  played  upon  by  ambitious  politicians 
more  and  more,  until  the  final  overthrow  of  themselves 
and  the  government  which  they  sought  to  establish  for  its 
preservation.  It  could  be  shown  how  before  that  time 
one  war  was  prolonged  for  the  protection,  and  another 
undertaken  chiefly  for  the  extension,  of  that  aggressive 
institution;  how  its  existence  was  supposed  to  require 
Federal  interference  with  the  mails  and  an  abridgment  of 
even  the  ancient  right  of  petition.  Every  power  of  the 
national  Government  and  all  the  resources  of  the  cotton 
States  had  been  employed  for  its  advantage. 

The  United  States  Supreme  Court  was  the  last  agent 
within  the  Union  by  which  its  advocates  sought  to  dignify 
and  perpetuate  human  servitude,  and  so  successful  were 
their  efforts  that  an  enlightened  and  humane  Chief  Justice 
was  but  little  misrepresented  in  language  or  in  sentiment 
when  political  opponents  ascribed  to  him  the  doctrine 
that  "the  negro  has  no  rights  which  the  white  man  is 
bound  to  respect." 

The  moral  progress  of  the  United  States  during  the 
last  forty  years  finds,  probably,  in  no  single  event  a  better 
illustration  than  the  change  in  public  opinion  upon  the 
interesting  question  of  human  rights.  When  the  majority 


xx  INTRODUCTION 

opinion  was  delivered  in  the  Dred  Scott  case  it  excited 
among  members  of  the  dominant  political  party  but  little 
surprise.  The  shock  which  a  judicial  utterance  of  such 
sentiments  would  give  in  our  time  to  the  ethical  notions 
of  the  American  people  affords  at  once  both  a  measure  of 
the  advance  that  has  been  made  in  the  interval  and  an 
undoubted  proof  that  progress  has  not  been,  as  is  com 
monly  supposed,  exclusively  or  even  mainly  along  material 
lines.  It  is  singular,  too,  that  the  first  serious  attempt  of 
the  Federal  Supreme  Court  to  set  at  rest  a  dangerous 
political  question  should  have  been  followed  by  effects  of 
so  alarming  a  tendency. 

It  is  not  intended  to  relate  in  these  pages  the  origin  or 
the  fate  of  those  compromises  designed  to  avoid  the  in 
evitable  conflict  already  in  the  closing  months  of  President 
Buchanan's  administration  casting  ominous  shadows  in  the 
pathway  of  the  nation,  nor  to  describe  the  uncertain  policy 
of  the  General  Government  or  attempt  to  determine  the 
measure  of  its  responsibility  for  the  fearful  rebellion  which 
that  hesitation  encouraged. 

The  skill  and  industry  of  a  multitude  of  laborers  have 
gathered  from  the  field  of  conflict  a  harvest  as  bountiful  as 
the  result  was  satisfactory.  We  have  general  histories 
and  bird's-eye  views,  military  accounts  and  naval  accounts 
of  the  Civil  War;  memoirs  and  diaries,  by  actors  more  or 
less  prominent  in  the  events  which  they  describe,  and  nar 
ratives  of  battles  and  of  sieges.  In  this  varied  and  ample 
field  even  a  belated  worker  might  hope  to  glean  some 
thing  of  value ;  but  this  study,  whatever  it  may  discuss 
incidentally,  will  be  chiefly  concerned  with  the  subject  of 
Reconstruction,  a  phase  of  our  political  and  constitutional 


INTRODUCTION 


xxi 


development  which,  though  beginning  during  the  progress, 
lies  mainly  beyond  the  close  of  the  Rebellion. 

The  organization  into  a  separate  government  of  the  late 
Confederate  States,  with  their  resolute  struggle  for  inde 
pendence,  is  the  chief  event  in  the  extraordinary  career 
of  this  favored  nation.  The  story  of  their  submission  to 
Federal  power  and  the  return  to  their  former  places  in  the 
Union  is  not  inferior  either  in  interest  or  instruction  to 
any  political  event  recorded  in  history.  This  return  is 
what  is  commonly  known  as  Reconstruction.  Though 
the  term  on  its  introduction  into  political  discussion  was 
frequently  objected  to  as  inaccurate,  it  has  been  generally 
adopted  in  the  writings  of  publicists  as  well  as  in  popular 
speech.  The  word  "  restoration,"  which  was  at  first  pre 
ferred,  was  soon  found  to  be  inexact ;  for  while  former  re 
lations  were  resumed  by  the  erring  States,  they  came  back, 
one  with  diminished  territorial  extent  and  all  with  domestic 
rights  greatly  abridged.  They  had,  in  fact,  been  recon 
structed.  It  is  true  that  even  the  loyal  States  did  not 
emerge  unscathed  from  this  political  revolution.  In  the 
South,  however,  the  established  industrial  system  had  been 
swept  completely  away. 

The  theme  falls  naturally  under  two  heads,  Presidential 
Reconstruction  and  Congressional  Reconstruction.  An 
account  of  the  former,  which  extended  from  the  summer 
of  1 86 1  to  the  autumn  of  1865,  occupies  the  whole  of  this 
volume.  Any  adequate  treatment  of  the  latter,  including 
as  it  does  the  eventful  period  from  the  meeting  of  Con 
gress  in  December,  1865,  to  the  withdrawal  of  Federal 
forces  from  the  South  in  1877,  will  require  a  narrative 
somewhat  more  ample. 

The  conspicuous  landmarks  of  Reconstruction  require 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

no  extraordinary  talent  to  recognize  and  locate.  It  is  the 
unfamiliar  region  between  that  is  difficult  accurately  to 
map  out.  The  failure  hitherto  to  present  in  a  single  view 
the  striking  features  of  these  neglected  parts  is  chiefly 
responsible  for  the  fact  that  Reconstruction  remains  one 
of  the  most  obscure  parts  of  our  history.  A  candid  and 
comprehensive  account  of  the  political  events  of  the  time 
appears  to  divest  the  subject  of  much  of  the  difficulty 
commonly  supposed  to  attend  its  investigation.  From  a 
sufficient  body  of  essential  facts  the  step  to  an  under 
standing  and  exposition  of  every  principle  of  moment  is 
comparatively  easy. 

Though  the  general  design  of  this  volume  will  be  sug 
gested  to  the  student  of  American  history  by  an  inspection 
of  its  principal  subdivisions,  it  may  not  be  unnecessary  for 
the  benefit  of  the  general  reader  to  add  a  brief  outline  of 
the  plan  that  has  been  adopted. 

Chapter  I.  relates  the  most  important  political  events 
in  the  history  of  Tennessee  from  its  attempted  secession 
to  the  restoration,  in  March,  1865,  of  a  civil  government 
loyal  to  the  United  States.  Military  movements  in  that 
Commonwealth  have  been  noticed  only  so  far  as  to  render 
intelligible  the  successive  steps  by  which  that  reorganiza 
tion  was  accomplished. 

Chapters  II.  and  III.  bring  the  affairs  of  Louisiana 
and  Arkansas,  respectively,  down  to  about  the  same  time. 
Events  in  those  States  have  been  treated,  so  far  as  con 
ditions  permitted,  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  case  of 
Tennessee. 

Chapter  IV.  is  concerned  with  the  secession,  restoration 
and  dismemberment  of  Virginia.  The  formation  out  of  a 
portion  of  that  Commonwealth  of  the  new  State  of  West 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

Virginia,  both  because  of  the  grave  constitutional  question 
which  arose  on  a  division  of  the  parent  State  and  the 
intrinsic  interest  of  the  subject,  has  been  considered  with 
some  degree  of  minuteness. 

In  Chapter  V.,  which  discusses  anti-slavery  legislation, 
it  will  appear  how  Mr.  Lincoln,  though  never  an  Aboli 
tionist  or  even  a  radical  Republican,  became  by  pressure 
of  military  necessity  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God 
to  destroy  an  institution  opposed  by  a  long  line  of 
American  statesmen  and  condemned  by  the  light  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

The  succeeding  chapter  considers  the  various  theories 
and  plans  of  restoration  presented  during  the  progress  of 
the  war.  The  rise  of  the  Congressional  plan,  which 
ultimately  prevailed,  is  treated  separately  in  Chapter  VII. 
Only  the  first  stage  of  its  development,  however,  falls 
within  the  limits  of  this  inquiry,  which  ends  with  the 
meeting  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  in  December, 
1865. 

Chapters  VIII.,  IX.  and  X.  trace  the  progress  of  the 
controversy  between  the  Legislative  and  the  Executive 
branches  of  Government.  The  culmination  of  this  differ 
ence,  however,  in  the  impeachment  and  trial  of  President 
Johnson  is  a  phase  of  Congressional  Reconstruction. 

The  topics  treated  in  the  eleventh  chapter,  having  fre 
quently  employed  the  pens  of  able  and  popular  writers  on 
the  Rebellion,  are  considered  in  this  study  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  making  it  complete  in  itself;  hence  that  section 
is  little  more  than  an  epitome  of  what  has  already  been 
said  on  those  subjects. 

The  twelfth  and  last  chapter  brings  every  part  of  the 
narrative  up  to  December  4,  1865.  To  clearly  compre- 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION 

hend  the  arduous  task  that  confronted  President  Johnson 
this  section  includes  a  rapid  survey  of  the  wreck  of  the 
Confederate  States.  The  principal  part,  however,  is  re 
served  for  an  account  of  the  conventions  assembled  under 
his  authority,  the  method  of  instituting  loyal  governments 
and  the  spirit  and  tendency  of  Southern  legislation  rela 
tive  to  freedmen.  An  examination  of  the  Presidential 
plan  of  Reconstruction  completes  the  volume. 


Lincoln's  Plan  of  Reconstruction 

I 

TENNESSEE 

WHILE  the  celebrated  joint  debates  with  Senator 
Douglas  in  1858,  the  Cooper  Union  and  other 
addresses,  marked  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  the  new  politi 
cal  party  just  rising  to  power,  as  the  intellectual  peer  of  able 
and  trusted  leaders  like  Sumner,  Chase  and  Seward,  his  con 
servative  opinions  on  the  subject  of  slavery  made  his  nomina 
tion  by  the  Chicago  Convention  more  acceptable  to  delegates 
from  the  border  States.  Though  his  competitors  received,  in 
the  memorable  contest  which  followed,  almost  a  million  votes 
in  excess  of  the  number  cast  for  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  associate, 
the  fierce  conflict  among  fragments  of  the  Democratic  party 
resulted,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  choice  of  a  decided  majority 
of  Republican  electors.1  This  rather  unexpected  defeat  of  a 
political  organization  that  had  lost  but  two  Presidential  con 
tests  since  its  first  success  under  Jefferson  afforded  Southern 
leaders  a  pretext  for  urging  a  dismemberment  of  the  Union. 
Indeed,  there  is  evidence  that  the  more  impetuous  among  them 
had,  four  years  earlier,  seriously  determined,  in  case  of  Fre 
mont's  election,  upon  a  similar  course.2  Thus  the  present 

1  McPherson's  Political  History  of  the  United  States,  p.  I. 

*:McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  389-399;  "Parson"  Brownlow's  Book, 
PP-  54,  159,  160;  Lalor's  Cyclopedia  of  Political  Science,  Political  Econ 
omy  and  United  States  History,  Vol.  III.  p.  698. 


a       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

event,  so  far  from  being  an  universal  disappointment  to  mem 
bers  of  the  defeated  party,  had  been  ardently  hoped  for  by 
many. 

The  choice  of  a  minority  party,  and  not  at  first  possessing 
the  entire  confidence  of  even  that  minority,  Mr.  Lincoln,  un 
able  to  divine  the  future,  was  compelled  in  dealing  with  the 
insurrection  to  proceed  with  the  utmost  caution.  Washing 
ton  himself,  in  organizing  the  Federal  Government,  had  a 
task  of  less  magnitude,  and  the  renown  of  his  military  achieve 
ments  silenced  for  a  time  even  the  boldest  in  opposition. 
President  Lincoln's  victories,  gained  on  a  different  field,  gave 
no  such  unquestioned  authority  to  his  name.  This  peculiar 
situation  forced  him  to  adopt  for  the  guidance  of  his  adminis 
tration  a  policy  not  altogether  free  from  embarrassment  to 
both  himself  and  his  successor.  His  purpose  at  that  time 
appears  to  have  been  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  moment  by 
the  contrivances  of  the  moment.  Whether  a  different  course 
would  have  been  rewarded  by  earlier  or  by  more  complete 
success  is  a  hazardous  subject  for  speculation.  If  his  theory 
of  our  national  existence  be  liable  to  the  multitude  of  objec 
tions  which  have  grown  up  in  these  fruitful  times  of  peace,  no 
other  has  been  suggested  that  is  free  from  criticism.  His 
political  doctrine,  too,  had  the  advantage  of  always  recom 
mending  measures  scarcely  less  distinguished  for  enlarged 
views  than  those  enlightened  convictions  which  characterize 
his  first  inaugural  address.  Whatever  may  be  concluded  of 
its  merits,  the  theory  embraced  at  the  outset  exerted  on  many 
administrative  acts  of  President  Lincoln  an  influence  that 
continued  to  be  felt  during  his  entire  executive  career;  and 
without  remembering  this  fact  we  shall  not  easily  compre 
hend  either  the  extent  of  his  "  Border  Policy,"  as  the  plan  of 
compensated  emancipation  is  often  called,  or  his  undoubted 
concern  for  persecuted  Union  men  in  the  seceded  States. 

The  sufferings  of  loyal  citizens  in  East  Tennessee  had  early 


TENNESSEE 

enlisted  the  President's  sympathies,  and  almost  from  the 
mencement  of  hostilities  measures  for  their  relief  formed  in 
his  mind  part  of  the  plan  of  operations  by  the  army  under 
General  Buell.  Writing,  January  6,  1862,  to  that  commander 
he  gives  reasons  for  suggesting  the  occupation  of  some  point 
there  rather  than  Nashville,  and  adds :  "  But  my  distress  is 
that  our  friends  in  East  Tennessee  are  being  hanged  and 
driven  to  despair,  and  even  now,  I  fear,  are  thinking  of  taking 
rebel  arms  for  the  sake  of  personal  protection.  In  this  we 
lose  the  most  valuable  stake  we  have  in  the  South."  l  The 
cause  of  these  outrages  may  be  briefly  explained  in  a  di 
gression. 

In  no  part  of  the  late  Confederate  States  was  the  slave 
interest  more  feeble  than  in  the  thirty  counties  comprising 
East  Tennessee.2  That  portion  of  the  State  contained  in  1860 
slightly  over  300,000  inhabitants,3  of  whom  only  about  one 
tenth  were  slaves,  while  in  many  counties  they  formed  no 
more  than  one  in  seventeen  of  the  population.  Here  and 
there,  indeed,  were  persons  of  wealth  some  of  whom  owned 
a  few  negroes.  But  though  a  majority  of  the  people  looked 
upon  domestic  slavery  as  something  foreign  to  their  social 
life,  they  had  no  strong  philanthropic  impulse  to  oppose  it. 
While  quite  willing  to  allow  their  countrymen  elsewhere  to 
keep  bondmen  at  pleasure,  they  did  not  regard  it  any  concern 
of  theirs  to  assist  either  in  extending  or  perpetuating  human 
servitude.  If  the  existence  of  the  Union  or  of  slavery  was 
the  issue,  they  would  have  hesitated  little  in  deciding  which 
should  perish.  Though,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  they  were 
as  intolerant  of  the  Republican  party  as  any  community  in 
the  South,  they  were  devotedly  attached  to  the  Union.  The 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  112.  The 
edition  of  Nicolay  and  Hay  is  used  throughout. 

*  The  Loyal  Mountaineers  of  Tennessee,  p.  24. 

*  More  correctly,  301,056.    Ibid. 


4        LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

fact  is  partly  explained  by  the  industrial  basis  of  society  in 
this  favored  region. 

Cut  off  from  Middle  Tennessee  by  lofty  ranges  of  the 
Cumberland,  and  from  North  Carolina  by  the  Great  Smoky, 
the  Black  and  the  Stone  mountains,  this  extensive  district  is 
traversed  in  its  entire  length  by  the  Tennessee  and  its  chief 
tributaries,  the  Clinch  and  the  Holston;  as  the  great  river 
flows  down  to  Alabama  it  receives,  before  turning  west  and 
-north  to  join  the  Ohio,  the  waters  of  many  important  and 
beautiful  streams,  some  of  which,  as  the  French  Broad  and 
Nolachucky,  are  associated  with  deeds  of  note  in  the  War 
for  Independence;  indeed,  one  of  its  crowning  victories  was 
chiefly  won  by  settlers  from  the  banks  of  the  Watauga. 
Other  names,  like  Hiwassee,  are  familiar  to  readers  of  later 
events  in  Tennessee  history,  and  Chickamauga  Creek  was 
destined  shortly  to  become  more  famous  than  any. 

Knoxville,  in  early  times  a  capital  of  the  State,  was,  in 
1860,  the  metropolis  of  East  Tennessee;  Chattanooga,  at  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  valley,  is  separated  from  Bristol,  on 
the  Virginia  line,  by  a  distance  of  more  than  two  hundred  and 
forty  miles;  Cleveland  and  Greenville  were  towns  of  less 
importance.  The  absence  of  large  cities  makes  it  evident  that 
manufacturing  had  not  yet  begun  to  attract  serious  attention. 
Like  early  settlers  everywhere  in  America,  the  pioneers  of 
Tennessee  sought  the  most  immediate  returns  from  the  prod 
ucts  of  the  forests  and  fields  around  them.  The  rich  mineral 
deposits,  then  either  unknown  or  almost  untouched,  had  not 
given  rise  to  those  great  extractive  operations  which  in  our 
time  have  so  stimulated  the  commercial  life  of  East  Ten 
nessee.  Vast  cotton  plantations,  worked  by  multitudes  of 
slaves,  like  those  in  the  western  portion  of  the  State,  had  no 
existence  in  these  mountain  valleys,  though  occasionally  small 
"  patches  "  were  cultivated  for  domestic  use. 

Citizens  of  West  Tennessee  would  naturally  place  upon  the 
Federal  Constitution  an  interested  construction;  their  indus- 


TENNESSEE  5 

tries,  they  believed,  required  such  an  interpretation  of  that 
instrument  as  would  place  the  institution  of  slavery  beyond 
the  reach  of  Congressional  interference.  While  the  people 
of  East  Tennessee,  too,  believed  in  the  several  sovereignty  of 
the  States,  the  question  of  slavery  did  not  touch  them  so 
nearly.  Indifferent  to  the  subject  themselves,  they  had  little 
sympathy  with  those  who  had  determined  to  break  up  the 
Union  from  a  mere  suspicion  that  their  interests  were  men 
aced  by  the  success  of  a  new  political  party.  But  to  ascribe 
to  the  want  of  interested  motives  their  indifference  to  the 
great  disturbing  question  of  the  time  would  be  to  assign 
but  one  and  that,  perhaps,  not  the  chief  cause. 

Except  on  its  northern  and  southern  boundaries  this  de 
lightful  region  is  practically  isolated  from  several  adjacent 
States  as  well  as  from  the  remainder  of  Tennessee.  It  was  in 
this  by-place  of  nature  and  amidst  such  a  population  that  The 
Manumission  Intelligencer,  a  weekly  newspaper,  made  its 
appearance  in  I8I9.1  It  was  followed  the  next  year  by  The 
Emancipator  of  Elijah  Embree,  a  Pennsylvania  Quaker;  this 
in  turn  was  soon  succeeded  by  a  more  celebrated  publication, 
The  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,  conducted  by  Ben 
jamin  Lundy.  While  these  publications  served  to  perpetuate 
and  to  extend,  they  did  not  create  the  sentiment  of  which  they 
became  exponents,  for,  several  years  before  their  appearance, 
an  anti-slavery  society  flourished  in  Jefferson  County.  Its 
existence  is  noticed  as  early  as  i8i4-2  This  anti-slavery  feel 
ing  was  part  of  the  philosophic  movement  encouraged  by 
nearly  all  Southern  as  well  as  Northern  statesmen  before 
the  inauguration  of  General  Jackson.  A  new  industrial  era, 
beginning  about  that  time,  put  an  end  to  the  abolition  socie 
ties  in  the  South;  and  though  Lundy's  paper  was  discontinued 
in  Tennessee  after  1824,  events  of  frequent  occurrence  sus 
tained  the  anti-slavery  sentiments  of  the  people. 

1  The  Loyal  Mountaineers  of  Tennessee,  p.  32. 
a  Ibid. 


I 
6        LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  Tennessee  valley  was  a  natural  thoroughfare  from  Vir 
ginia  to  the  south-west,  and  when  slaves  were  purchased  on 
the  Potomac  they  were  chained  together,  to  prevent  escape, 
and  in  that  condition  driven  to  the  homes  of  their  new 
masters.1  The  plaintive  songs  of  captives  as  they  were 
marched  in  lines  along  the  valley  highways  often  caused  the 
free  mountaineer  to  pause  in  his  labors  and  reflect  on  what 
was  passing  before  his  eyes.  He  "  saw  slavery  in  its  bitter 
ness  and  without  disguise."  The  remembrance  of  such 
spectacles  was  apt  to  strengthen  in  him  anti-slavery  feelings 
that  had  come  down  from  Revolutionary  times.  But  whether 
Southern  leaders  ascribed  the  sentiment  to  an  inherited  tend 
ency  or  regarded  it  as  a  consequence  of  this  odious  phase  of 
the  domestic  slave-trade,  they  did  not  think  it  beneath  the 
dignity  of  attention;  for  it  was,  doubtless,  to  create  a  sym 
pathy  for  their  institution  that  a  "  Southern  Commercial 
Convention  "  was  held  at  Knoxville  in  1857.  It  was  too  late, 
however,  to  root  out  the  convictions  of  two  generations;  the 
counsels  of  the  wise  were  soon  to  be  confounded  and  the 

1  Thirty  years  before  President  Lincoln  published  his  Emancipation 
Proclamation  Great  Britain  abolished  slavery  throughout  her  colonies. 
Naturally  this  action  was  viewed  in  no  friendly  spirit  by  the  slave  inter 
est  in  America,  for  it  brought  the  free  negro  to  the  very  door  of  the 
Southern  States,  and  though  it  was  regarded  as  a  menace  to  the  "  pecul 
iar  institution,"  it  was  not  until  a  positive  loss  was  sustained  that  any 
controversy  arose  with  England.  In  October,  1841,  the  brig  Creole,  of 
Richmond,  with  a  cargo  of  135  slaves  left  Hampton  Roads  for  New 
Orleans.  The  negroes,  under  Madison  Washington,  killed  one  of  the 
owners,  took  possession  of  the  vessel  and  steered  her  into  the  port  of 
Nassau.  There  those  slaves  not  expressly  charged  with  murder  were  set 
at  liberty,  and  though  the  administration  demanded  their  surrender 
they  were  not  given  up.  The  experience  of  the  Creole  was  not  singular, 
several  cases  of  a  similar  nature  being  recorded.  These  facts  showed 
the  danger  of  navigating  the  Bahama  channel  after  1833,  and  at  least 
one  reason  for  preferring  the  overland  route  down  the  Tennessee  valley 
was  an  expectation  of  avoiding  such  accidents. —  (See  Wilson's  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,  Vol.  I.  pp.  443-444;  Lalor's  Cyclopedia  of  Po 
litical  Science,  etc.,  Vol.  I.  pp.  709-710.) 


TENNESSEE  7 

fretful  agitation  of  leaders  soon  to  be  hushed  in  the  tempest 
of  war. 

No  Republican  electoral  ticket  was  presented  in  the  great 
political  battle  of  1860  for  the  suffrage  of  Tennessee  voters, 
and  had  any  citizen  openly  advocated  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  he  would  have  had  to  endure  insult  or  injury,  or  to 
abandon  his  home.  This  explains  why  the  successful  candi 
dates  received  no  vote  in  all  the  State.  As  "  Parson " 
Brownlow,  selecting  extreme  abolition  and  secession  types, 
characteristically  expressed  it,  his*  people  were  equally 
opposed  to  the  William  L.  Garrisons  and  the  William  L.  Yan- 
ceys  of  politics.1  In  this  situation  the  supporters  of  Bell, 
Breckenridge  and  Douglas  were  left  to  contend  for  victory 
among  themselves.  Addresses  of  the  time  reveal  not  only 
the  emotions  of  individual  speakers,  but  the  excited  state 
of  public  opinion.  The  attitude  of  Constitutional  Union 
men  was  vigorously  stated  in  a  debate  at  Knoxville  by  Na 
thaniel  G.  Taylor,  an  elector  on  the  Bell  and  Everett  ticket. 
"  The  people  of  East  Tennessee,"  said  the  orator,  "  are  de 
termined  to  maintain  the  Union  by  force  of  arms  against 
any  movement  from  the  South  throughout  their  region  of 
country  to  assail  the  government  at  Washington  with  vio 
lence,  and  that  the  secessionists  of  the  cotton  States  in  at 
tempting  to  carry  out  their  nefarious  design  to  destroy  the 
Republic  would  have  to  march  over  his  dead  body  and  the 
dead  bodies  of  thousands  of  East  Tennessee  mountaineers 
slain  in  battle."  2 

When  Yancey  came  up  from  Alabama  to  "  precipitate  "  this 
section  into  rebellion  the  intrepid  Brownlow  made  a  similar 
reply.3  The  energy  or  the  elegance  of  such  utterances  may 
be  questioned,  but  the  deeds  of  loyal  Tennesseeans  during 

1Brownlow's  Book,  p.  52. 

1  The  Loyal  Mountaineers  of  Tennessee,  pp.  80-81. 

8  Brownlow's  Book,  p.  67. 


8        LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

eventful  years  to  follow  are  evidence  alike  of  the  sincerity  of 
the  speakers  and  their  insight  into  the  temper  of  the  times. 

Except  Tennessee,  all  the  States  that  attempted  secession 
did  so  by  means  of  revolutionary  bodies  styled  conventions; 
this  description  of  them  is  justified  both  by  the  general  powers 
of  administration  and  government  which  they  assumed  and 
by  the  fact  that  the  legislatures  in  convoking  them  tran 
scended  their  authority,  the  members  of  every  State  legisla 
ture  being  "  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation  to  support "  the 
Federal  Constitution,  which  forms  a  part  of  the  fundamental 
law  of  each  commonwealth.  Though  the  Legislature  of 
Tennessee,  following  the  example  of  law-making  bodies  in 
other  disloyal  States,  passed  a  "  Convention  Bill,"  it  was 
promptly  defeated  by  a  majority  of  13,204  in  a  total  vote  of 
more  than  120,000.  Notwithstanding  the  constitutional  pro 
hibition  that  "  no  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance, 
or  confederation," *  the  Legislature  on  May  i  authorized 
Governor  Harris  to  appoint  commissioners  to  form  a  military 
league  with  the  Confederate  States.  Six  days  later  the  rela 
tions  entered  into  by  these  agents  were  ratified  in  a  secret 
session,  the  State  government  thereby  turning  over  tempo 
rarily  to  the  President  of  the  Confederacy  its  entire  military 
force.  These  matters  disposed  of,  the  plans  of  disunionists 
were  completed  by  the  passage  on  the  same  day  of  a  declara 
tion  of  independence  and  an  ordinance  dissolving  all  Federal 
relations  between  Tennessee  and  the  United  States.  Though 
this  measure  was  to  be  voted  upon  a  month  later,  the  Legis 
lature,  as  if  anticipating  the  result,  adopted  and  ratified  the 
Confederate  constitution.  What  was  so  ardently  desired  by 
secessionists  was  finally  accomplished,  and  on  June  24  the 
Governor  declared  his  State  out  of  the  Union,  the  vote  being 
104,019  for,  and  47,238  against,  separation. 2  The  Tennes- 

1  Art.  I.  sec.  io>  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
'McPherson's  Pol.  Hist,  p.  5. 


TENNESSEE  9 

see  Legislature  did  not  assume  the  functions  of  a  secession 
convention  till  after  the  commencement  of  hostilities;  but 
from  that  date  the  forms  of  law  ceased  to  be  seriously  re 
garded.    While  the  disunion  party  scored  a  present  triumph, 
loyalist  leaders  like  Horace  Maynard,  Thomas  A.  R.  Nelson 
and  Andrew  Johnson,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  injury  or  even 
of  death,  were  speaking  and  working  actively  against  the 
spirit  of  secession.    The  strong  Union  feeling  thus  excited  re 
sulted  ultimately  in  local  insurrections  and  in  the  meeting, 
June  17,  of  a  convention  at  Greeneville  in  which  a  remon 
strance  was  adopted  and  a  committee  appointed  to  petition  the 
Legislature  for  the  separation  of  East  Tennessee  and  such 
counties  of  Middle  Tennessee  as  were  willing  to  cooperate  in 
the  formation  of  a  new  commonwealth.     But  the  presence 
there  during  the  following    years    of    veteran  Confederate 
armies  prevented  Union  men  from  organizing  a  separate  gov 
ernment,  and  saved  die    State    from  the  fate  of  Virginia. 
All  who  were  known  to  have  had  a  connection,  or  who  were 
suspected  of  sympathy,  with  this  movement  were  especially 
obnoxious  to  the  secession  party,  and  at  the  hands  of  soldiers 
were  subjected  to  many  indignities.     In  various  ways  the 
feeling  of  opposition  to  the  Confederacy  was  intensified,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  measures  of  retaliation  were  considered. 
Union  people  were  quick  to  perceive  the  advantage  which  the 
South  derived  from  the  use  of  railways  within  the  State,  and, 
in  expectation  of  assistance  from  Federal  forces  in  Kentucky, 
five  railroad  bridges  were  burned.    East  Tennesseeans,  how 
ever,  were  destined  to  be  sorely  disappointed  in  the  matter  of 
aid  from  the  Union  army ;  and,  without  effective  organization 
or  arms,  were  easily  captured  or  dispersed.    Of  the  former, 
many  were  sent  as  prisoners  of  war  to  Alabama,  hundreds 
were  crowded  into  loathsome  jails  in  the  State  and  others 
hanged,  with  circumstances  of  deliberate  cruelty,  near  the 
scenes  of  their  alleged  crimes. 


io      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

These  were  among  the  outrages  to  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
referred  in  his  letter  to  the  Federal  commander.  By  Horace 
Maynard  a  Representative,  and  Andrew  Johnson  a  Senator, 
in  Congress  the  President  was  kept  very  accurately  informed 
of  events  in  the  State  and  often  importuned  to  relieve  their 
constituents.  This  he  constantly  endeavored  to  do,  but  his 
intentions  were  effectually  defeated  by  the  inactivity  of  Gen 
eral  Buell,  who  cherished  other  plans  for  destroying  his 
antagonist.  More  than  two  years  were  to  elapse,  from  the 
time  President  Lincoln  urged  his  policy,  before  Tennesseeans 
received  any  aid  from  Federal  armies;  long  before  that  time 
they  had  been  ruthlessly  punished  for  their  patriotism,  and 
then  their  oppressors  were  chastised  by  the  hand  of  an  abler 
warrior  than  General  Buell. 

Within  a  month  from  the  date  of  President  Lincoln's  letter 
of  January  6  General  Grant  had  possession  of  Fort  Henry  and, 
ten  days  later,  February  16,  received  the  surrender  of  Fort 
Donelson.  Nashville,  becoming  unsafe,  was  evacuated  on 
February  23,  1862;  the  State  appeared  for  the  first  time  to 
be  slipping  from  the  grasp  of  the  Confederacy,  and  a  question, 
hitherto  more  or  less  academic,  presented  itself  for  practical 
settlement.  In  the  territory  from  which  hostile  armies  were 
reluctantly  retiring  there  would  be  involved  a  great  derange 
ment  in  the  administration  of  local  civil  law  from  the  neces 
sary  displacement  there  of  all  officials  heretofore  acting  in 
obedience  to  the  Confederate  States. 

By  other  Union  victories  in  the  Spring  of  1862  the  same 
situation  confronted  the  Federal  Government  in  Arkansas, 
in  North  Carolina  and  in  Louisiana.  Indeed,  this  identical 
question  arose  as  early  as  1861  in  Virginia  and  Missouri, 
but  in  the  former  the  rebel  government  was  abrogated  by  a 
delegate  convention  that  restored  a  loyal  government  from 
which  in  due  time  sprang  the  separate  State  of  West  Virginia. 
In  Missouri  a  lawfully  chosen  convention  appointed  a  pro- 


TENNESSEE  n 

visional  government  in  sympathy  with  the  Union.  This  sub 
ject,  however,  will  be  more  conveniently  discussed  elsewhere. 

When  General  Johnston  received  tidings  of  the  disaster 
at  Donelson  he  retired  with  his  army  to  Murfreesboro,  leav 
ing  Nashville,  which  he  was  unable  to  protect,  a  scene  of 
panic  and  dismay,  first  advising  Governor  Harris  to  secure 
the  public  archives  and  convoke  the  Legislature  elsewhere.  It 
was  in  these  circumstances  that  President  Lincoln,  on  the 
same  day,  February  23,  nominated,  and  the  Senate,  March  5, 
1862,  confirmed,  Andrew  Johnson  as  military  governor  of 
Tennessee  with  the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  As  the  com 
mission  antedates  the  action  of  the  Senate  by  two  days  the 
President,  no  doubt,  consulted  the  leaders  of  that  body  rela 
tive  to  the  contemplated  nomination,  and  received  assurance 
of  its  favorable  consideration. 

Nothing  in  any  way  connected  with  the  appointment  of 
Senator  Johnson,  who  was  destined  to  act  so  conspicuous  a 
part  in  the  important  and  difficult  work  of  reconstruction,  can 
fail  to  be  of  interest,  and  any  account  of  the  execution  of  his 
office  would  be  incomplete  without  some  observations  on  the 
nature  of  his  commission  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy : 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  March  3,  1862. 
To  the  HON.  ANDREW  JOHNSON  : 

SIR  :  You  are  hereby  appointed  military  governor  of  the  State  of  Ten 
nessee,  with  authority  to  exercise  and  perform,  within  the  limits  of  that 
State,  all  and  singular  the  powers,  duties,  and  functions  pertaining  to 
the  office  of  military  governor,  including  the  power  to  establish  all  neces 
sary  offices,  tribunals,  etc. 

EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

Secretary  of  War.1 

Quoting  the  essential  part  of  this  document  a  recent  co 
operative  work  has  this  comment :  "  The  office  [that  of  mili 
tary  governor]  was  new  to  the  laws  and  history  of  the  State 

1  Misc.  Doc.  No.  55,  H.  of  R.,  I  Sess.  3Qth  Cong.,  p.  5. 


12      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  country.  Its  powers  and  duties  were  limited  only  by  the 
will  of  one  man,  the  occupant."  *  From  the  commission  itself 
we  derive  our  prime  conception  of  both  the  nature  of  the 
office  and  the  functions  which  it  comprehended.  The  au 
thority  of  the  incumbent  extended  to  the  exercise,  within  the 
limits  of  Tennessee,  of  all  "  the  powers,  duties,  and  functions 
pertaining  to  the  office  of  military  governor."  Nothing  in 
this  language  implies  that  the  office  was  of  recent  creation. 
Nor  is  its  nature  to  be  discovered  by  a  perusal  of  the  supple 
mental  authority  contained  in  the  President's  letter  of  Sep 
tember  19,  1863,  to  Governor  Johnson,  for  the  official  con 
duct  of  the  latter  on  his  arrival  in  Nashville  can  not  be  seri 
ously  thought  to  have  been  influenced  by  instructions  re 
ceived  nineteen  months  later.  It  is  perfectly  true,  as  Mr.  Ira 
P.  Jones,  author  of  the  chapter  on  Reconstruction  in  Tennes 
see,  asserts,  that  the  office  of  military  governor  had  never 
been  exercised  within  that  State;  but  it  is  not  a  fact  that  it 
was  new  to  the  laws  and  history  of  the  "  country,"  if  by  this 
indefinite  expression  he  means  the  United  States.  During 
the  war  with  Mexico  the  American  people  had  been  made 
familiar  with  military  commissions  and  with  military  gover 
nors.  Secretary  Marcy  prepared,  June  3,  1846,  for  General 
Stephen  W.  Kearny  the  following  instructions :  "  Should 
you  conquer  and  take  possession  of  New  Mexico  and  Upper 
California,  or  considerable  places  in  either,  you  will  establish 
temporary  civil  governments  therein."  2  To  this  direction 
general  rules  of  conduct  were  added,  and  the  letter  authorized 
the  assurance  that  "  It  is  the  wish  and  design  of  the  United 
States  to  provide  for  them  [the  people  of  New  Mexico]  a 
free  government  with  the  least  possible  delay,  similar  to  that 
which  exists  in  our  Territories."  By  virtue  of  this  authority 
General  Kearny  appointed  Charles  Bent  governor  of  New 

'Why  The  Solid  South?  p.  170. 

1  Cutt'S  Conquest  of  California  and  New  Mexico,  p.  246. 


TENNESSEE  13 

Mexico.  Mr.  Polk  in  his  Message  of  July  6,  1848,  to  Con 
gress  maintained  that  with  the  termination  of  war  his  power 
to  establish  temporary  civil  governments  over  New  Mexico 
and  California  had  ceased ;  the  legality  of  their  previous  exist 
ence  he  justified  by  the  law  of  nations.  By  cession  to  the 
United  States,  the  government  of  Mexico  no  longer  pre 
tended  to  any  control  over  them.1  President  Polk,  differing 
from  other  leaders  of  his  party,  held  that  "  until  Congress 
shall  act,  the  inhabitants  will  be  without  any  organized  gov 
ernment."  2  But  Congress,  notwithstanding  urgent  appeals 
of  the  Executive,  moved  very  deliberately  in  the  matter  of 
abolishing  the  office  of  military  governor.  In  May,  1847, 
Colonel  Richard  B.  Mason  assumed  the  office  of  Governor  and 
commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  forces  in  California. 
Two  months  after  ratification  of  the  treaty  with  Mexico  he 
received  notice  of  the  fact,  but  no  intimation  that  the  civil 
government  instituted  by  the  President  was  discontinued. 
Without  other  instructions  than  an  order  to  extend  over 
California  "  the  revenue  laws  and  tariff  of  the  United  States  " 
he,  as  well  as  his  successor,  General  Riley,  continued  the 
existing  government. 

After  affirming  the  legality  of  its  institution  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  (Cross  vs.  Harrison,  p.  193,  16  How 
ard)  says  that  the  existing  government  did  not  cease  as  a 
consequence  of  the  restoration  of  peace;  the  President  might 
have  dissolved  it,  but  he  did  not  do  so.  Congress  could  have 
put  an  end  to  it,  but  that  was  not  done.  "  The  right  inference 
from  the  inaction  of  both  is,  that  it  was  meant  to  be  con 
tinued  until  it  had  been  legislatively  changed."  In  fact  it 
was  so  continued  until  the  people  in  convention  formed  a 
government,  subsequently  recognized  by  Congress,  when  Cali 
fornia  was  admitted  during  the  autumn  of  1850  as  a  State. 


1  Statesman's  Manual,  Vol.  IV.  p.  1742. 
8  Ibid. 


14      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  authority,  then,  of  both  political  departments,  as  well 
as  the  more  deliberate  opinion  of  the  judicial  branch,  of  the 
General  Government  had  established  a  precedent  with  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  thoroughly  familiar;  for,  by  a  singular  co 
incidence,  both  he  and  Mr.  Johnson  were  serving  together  in 
the  Thirtieth  Congress,  which  began  its  first  session  in  De 
cember,  1847.  They  participated  in,  or  were  interested  spec 
tators  of,  all  those  stirring  scenes  that  marked  the  beginning 
of  one  of  the  last  legislative  victories  of  slavery;  so  that  this 
portion  at  least  of  American  history  was  not  strange  to  either 
the  President  or  the  Senator  from  Tennessee. 

The  question  whether  Tennessee  was  within  or  without 
the  Union  will  be  reserved  for  more  ample  discussion  farther 
on;  it  is  sufficient  to  observe  here  that  its  territory  was  held 
by  an  adverse  party  and  its  government  hostile  to  the  national 
authority.  If  the  administration  of  Colonel  Mason  and  his 
successor  in  California  was  not  regarded  by  President  Lin 
coln  as  a  sufficient  basis  for  his  action  there  was  still  left  an 
undoubted  foundation.  The  appointment  was  deemed  an 
element  of  strength  to  the  Union  forces  operating  in  Tennes 
see,  and,  in  this  view,  the  act  was  entirely  within  the  power 
of  the  President  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  United  States.  Though  its  wisdom  may  be  ques 
tioned  and  its  results  dismissed  with  a  sneer,  it  was  not  a 
novelty  nor  can  his  admirers  claim  for  Mr.  Lincoln  the  merit 
of  its  invention;  and  if  in  its  origin  the  office  had  a  bearing 
on  the  extension,  its  present  application  was  not  wholly  un 
connected  with  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  remaining  pages 
of  this  chapter  and  the  two  succeeding  ones  will  be  employed 
in  tracing  rapidly  the  operation  of  the  system  of  military 
governors  in  those  States  in  which  it  was  seriously  attempted 
to  be  enforced. 

The  movements  of  contending  armies  had  already  obliter 
ated  in  many  districts  of  Tennessee  almost  every  trace  of  civil 


TENNESSEE  15 

government,  and  when  State  officials  hurried  away  to  Mem 
phis,  where  Governor  Harris  had  reassembled  the  Legisla 
ture,  they  left  behind  them  an  uncontrolled  mob  which  Gen 
eral  Forrest  found  it  necessary  to  charge  with  his  cavalry  to 
remove  a  portion  of  Confederate  military  stores  that  had  not 
been  distributed  among  the  poor  or  perished  in  the  prevailing 
anarchy.1  General  Grant  had  already,  on  February  22,  from 
Fort  Donelson,  issued  an  order  that  "  no  courts  will  be  al 
lowed  to  act  under  State  authority,  but  all  cases  coming 
within  reach  of  the  military  arm  will  be  adjudicated  by  the 
authorities  the  Government  has  established  within  the  State. 
Martial  law  is  therefore  declared  to  extend  over  West  Tennes 
see."  The  order  added,  "  whenever  a  sufficient  number  of 
citizens  return  to  their  allegiance  to  maintain  law  and  order 
over  the  territory,  the  military  restriction  here  indicated 
will  be  removed."2  Union  troops  under  General  Nelson 
having  occupied  the  city  on  the  25th,  Governor  Johnson  on 
his  arrival,  March  12,  1862,  from  his  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate  was  not  under  the  necessity  of  employing  the 
harsh  discipline  of  General  Forrest  to  restore  order  in  the 
deserted  capital.  For  this  part  of  his  career  he  was,  how 
ever,  severely  censured  by  political  adversaries  in  Tennessee. 
Detached  from  their  historical  settings,  indeed,  his  acts  could 
justly  be  described  as  tyrannical.  But  it  is  precisely  these 
figures  in  the  back-ground  that  are  necessary  to  harmonize 
the  whole  and  set  before  us  in  its  proper  light  a  truthful  pic 
ture  of  the  times.  As  his  professions  preceded  his  adminis 
trative  acts  it  is  proper  to  introduce  this  portion  of  the  sub 
ject  by  quoting  from  a  speech  which  he  delivered  in  Nash 
ville  the  evening  after  his  arrival.  Five  days  later,  March  18, 
it  was  printed  under  the  style  of  "  An  Appeal  to  the  People  " 
of  Tennessee.  After  some  general  observations  on  the  tran- 

1  The  Lost  Cause,  p.  209. 
8  Ann.  Cycl.,i862,  p,  763. 


1 6      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

quil  and  prosperous  existence  of  the  State  in  the  Union,  and 
en  the  honors  by  which  many  of  her  sons  had  been  distin 
guished,  he  noticed  the  fact  that  the  very  leaders  of  secession 
themselves  had  been  the  recipients  of  Federal  bounty  and 
patronage;  had  taken  oaths  to  support  the  Constitution  and 
yet  labored  to  overturn  Federal  authority.  Entering  fairly 
upon  his  theme,  he  continued : 

Meanwhile  the  State  Government  has  disappeared.  The  Executive 
has  abdicated;  the  Legislature  has  dissolved;  the  Judiciary  is  in  abey 
ance.  The  great  ship  of  State  .  .  .  has  been  suddenly  abandoned 
by  its  officers  and  mutinous  crew,  and  left  to  float  at  the  mercy  of  the 
winds,  and  to  be  plundered  by  every  rover  upon  the  deep. 

Pausing  to  enumerate  many  acts  of  spoliation,  he  resumes : 

In  such  a  lamentable  crisis  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
could  not  be  unmindful  of  its  high  constitutional  obligation  to  guarantee 
to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  an  obliga 
tion  which  every  State  has  a  direct  and  immediate  interest  in  having 
observed  towards  every  other  State.  .  .  .  This  obligation  the  na 
tional  Government  is  now  attempting  to  discharge.  I  have  been  ap 
pointed,  in  the  absence  of  the  regular  and  established  State  authorities, 
as  Military  Governor  for  the  time  being,  to  preserve  the  public  property 
of  the  State,  to  give  the  protection  of  law  actively  enforced  to  her  citizens, 
and,  as  speedily  as  may  be,  to  restore  her  government  to  the  same  con 
dition  as  before  the  existing  rebellion. 

The  "  regular  and  established  State  authorities,"  to  whom 
Governor  Johnson  refers,  were,  of  course,  none  other  than 
those  officials  who  administered  affairs  in  Tennessee  before 
the  6th  of  May.  Of  these  some  had  actually  abandoned  their 
offices,  while  others  had  subordinated  their  functions  to  a 
power  hostile  to  the  constitution  of  the  State.  He  proceeded : 

These  offices  must  be  filled  temporarily,  until  the  State  shall  be  re 
stored  so  far  to  its  accustomed  quiet,  that  the  people  can  peaceably  as 
semble  at  the  ballot-box  and  select  agents  of  their  own  choice.  .  .  . 

I  shall,  therefore,  as  early  as  practicable,  designate  for  various  posi 
tions  under  the  State  and  county  governments,  from  among  my  fellow- 
citizens,  persons  of  probity  and  intelligence,  and  bearing  true  allegiance 
to  the  Constitution  and  Government  of  the  United  States,  who  will  exe 
cute  the  functions  of  their  respective  offices  until  their  places  can  be 


TENNESSEE  17 

filled  by  the  action  of  the  people.  Their  authority,  when  their  appoint 
ment  shall  have  been  made,  will  be  accordingly  respected  and  observed. 
.  .  .  Those  who  through  the  dark  and  weary  night  of  rebellion 
have  maintained  their  allegiance  to  the  Federal  Government  will  be  hon 
ored.  The  erring  and  misguided  will  be  welcomed  on  their  return.  And 
while  it  may  become  necessary,  in  vindicating  the  violated  majesty  of 
the  law,  and  in  reasserting  its  imperial  sway,  to  punish  intelligent  and 
conscious  treason  in  high  places,  no  merely  retaliatory  or  vindictive 
policy  will  be  adopted.1 

To  all  who  in  private  and  unofficial  capacity  had  assumed 
an  attitude  of  hostility  to  the  Government  amnesty  was  offered 
for  all  past  acts  and  declarations  upon  condition  of  yielding 
obedience  to  the  supremacy  of  the  laws.  This  the  Governor 
advised  them  to  do.  Though  the  "  Appeal,"  brief,  clear  and 
characterized  by  the  best  temper,  is  a  state  paper  of  decided 
merit,  there  were  many  classes  still  residing  at  the  capital 
upon  whom  it  made  little  impression.  The  mayor  and  the 
city  council  were  ordered  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
United  States,  and  on  their  refusal  were  imprisoned.  Of  the 
harshness  of  this  measure  it  need  only  be  observed  that  the 
essence  of  government  is  to  govern,  and  had  the  new  execu 
tive  failed  on  this  occasion  to  assert  authority  his  administra 
tion  would  have  been  wrecked  at  the  outset.  For  printing 
seditious  matter  the  press  was  placed  under  restraint,  and 
within  a  few  months  it  was  found  necessary  to  punish  with 
unusual  severity,  even  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Clergymen, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  were  not  only  hostile  to  the  Union  but 
actually  encouraged  treason  from  their  pulpits.  These 
offenders  Governor  Johnson  summoned  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  or  to  depart  from  the  State.  They  appeared  be 
fore  him,  as  commanded  to,  refused  compliance,  but  asked 
time  for  deliberation;  this  being  granted,  to  the  full  extent 
desired,  and  still  persisting  in  their  refusal  they  were  placed 
in  confinement.  That  they  were  not  proceeded  against  with 

1  Life  and  Speeches  of  Andrew  Johnson,  pp.  451-456.    Boston :    Little, 
Brown  &  Co.     1866. 


1 8     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

undue  haste  appears  from  an  entry  in  a  diary  kept  by  one  of 
Governor  Johnson's  biographers  which  fixes  the  date  as 
June  28.*  Three  months  had  fully  elapsed  since  the  arrival 
of  Mr.  Johnson  before  the  ministers  were  punished  for  their 
seditious  utterances.  To  prevent  interference  with  his  execu 
tive  functions  he  sometimes  imprisoned  judges.  Other 
measures  no  less  arbitrary  have  been  the  subject  of  much 
criticism.  He  declared  that  whenever  a  loyal  citizen  was 
maltreated  five  or  more  sympathizers  with  the  Rebellion 
should  be  arrested  and  dealt  with  as  the  nature  of  the  case 
appeared  to  require.  When  the  property  of  Union  men  was 
destroyed  remuneration  should  be  made  them  from  the  prop 
erty  of  the  disloyal.  The  President  seems  to  have  approved 
of  these  reprisals.  Nothing  more  clearly  shows  the  demoral 
ized  condition  of  society  in  Tennessee  than  the  necessity  of 
adopting  measures  similar  to  those  employed  eight  centuries 
before  by  the  Danish  and  Norman  conquerors  of  England 
to  protect  their  followers  from  private  assassination  by  the 
natives.  With  the  natural  leaders  of  the  people,  including 
bankers,  physicians  and  clergymen,  encouraging  treason,  men 
of  inferior  intelligence  'and  station  could  not  be  expected  to 
remain  peaceful  and  contented  citizens,  and  as  preachers 
of  sedition  seldom  lack  numerous  and  sympathetic  audiences 
the  spirit  of  lawlessness  increased.  The  Governor  himself 
was  threatened  with  assassination  in  the  public  streets  and  in 
public  meetings,  but  he  set  such  menaces  at  defiance  and  on  at 
least  one  occasion  addressed  an  assembly  with  his  pistol  on 
a  desk  before  him. 

But  the  repression  of  the  disloyal  and  the  restoration  of 
order  by  no  means  included  the  whole  of  his  duties.  Func 
tions  not  less  important  remain  to  be  noticed.  To  the  duties 
of  governor  and  general  he  added  those  of  quartermaster 

*Life,  Speeches,  and  Services  of  Andrew  Johnson,  pp.  101-104.    Phila 
delphia:   T.  B.  Peterson  &  Brothers. 


TENNESSEE  19 

and  judge.  Though  thousands  of  loyal  people  flocked  to 
him  for  arms  and  supplies,  he  proved  equal  to  every  demand, 
and  from  their  number  raised  an  army  that  did  gallant  serv 
ice  in  the  field.  He  fed,  clothed  and  sheltered  the  poor 
without  regard  to  the  army  in  which  their  natural  protectors 
were  serving.  Thus  redressing  grievances,  relieving  want 
and  reinstating  courts  he  worked  with  an  intelligent  and 
tireless  energy,  and  when  the  timid  prudence  of  General  Buell 
would  have  allowed  Nashville  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy  "  the  courage  of  Governor  Johnson,"  said  a  panegyrist, 
"  stood  a  bulwark  for  its  defence."  1  He  had  been  scarcely 
three  months  in  office  when  President  Lincoln  described  him 
as  "  a  true  and  valuable  man,  indispensable  to  us  in  Tennes 
see."  His  zeal,  his  intense  fidelity  to  the  Union,  his  tre 
mendous  energy  and  undoubted  courage  peculiarly  fitted  him 
to  rule  in  turbulent  times.  At  the  outset  the  only  agencies 
left  for  the  protection  of  life,  liberty  and  property  were  force 
and  arbitrary  will;  these  he  did  not  hesitate  to  employ. 

The  foregoing  account  does  not  notice  his  activity  in 
another  field.  His  ultimate  object,  the  establishment  of  civil 
authority  throughout  Tennessee,  was  kept  constantly  in  view. 
To  prepare  for  this  event  he  addressed  in  May,  1862,  large 
assemblies  at  Nashville  and  Murfreesboro,  and  in  June  at 
Columbia  and  Shelby ville.2  This  work,  however,  was  brought 
suddenly  to  an  end  later  in  the  summer  by  General  Bragg's 
raid  into  Kentucky. 

From  what  has  been  related  it  appears,  and  the  opinion 
will  grow  stronger  with  the  progress  of  this  narrative,  that  in 
appointing  a  military  governor  of  Tennessee  President  Lin 
coln  intended  no  more  than  to  revive  an  office  already  known 

1  Memorial  Addresses  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Andrew  Johnson, 
pp.  76-80;  Memoir  by  Frank  Moore,  pp.  xxvi-xxvii  in  Life  and  Speeches 
of  Andrew  Johnson.  Boston :  Little,  Brown  &  Co. 

"Life  of  Andrew  Johnson,  pp.  98-101;  Philadelphia:  T.  B.  Peterson 
&  Brothers. 


20      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  the  people  of  the  United  States;  and  though  Mr.  Johnson 
was  expected  ultimately  to  reinaugurate  a  loyal  government 
throughout  the  State,  his  office  was  regarded  primarily  as 
an  inexpensive  means  of  holding  territory  wrested  from,  and 
assisting  in  military  operations  against,  an  enemy.  Indeed, 
it  is  only  in  this  view  that  his  administration  of  the  office  can 
be  regarded  as  a  success,  and  that  it  was  so  considered  in  the 
North  his  nomination  on  the  ticket  with  Mr.  Lincoln  is 
undoubted  proof. 

Besides  several  colored  regiments,  the  records  for  1863 
show  that  25,000  Tennesseeans  were  then  serving  in  the 
Union  army,  and  every  succeeding  month  increased  their 
number.1  That  the  political  advantage  to  be  gained  by  re 
storing  a  loyal  government  was  not  the  only  or  even  the 
principal  purpose  of  the  President  may  be  fairly  inferred  from 
the  following  letter: 

I  am  told  you  have  at  least  thought  of  raising  a  negro  military  force. 
In  my  opinion  the  country  now  needs  no  specific  thing  so  much  as  some 
man  of  your  ability  and  position  to  go  to  this  work.  When  I  speak  of 
your  position,  I  mean  that  of  an  eminent  citizen  of  a  slave  state  and  him 
self  a  slaveholder.  The  colored  population  is  the  great  available  and  yet 
unavailed  of  force  for  restoring  the  Union.  The  bare  sight  of  50,000 
armed  and  drilled  black  soldiers  upon  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  would 
end  the  rebellion  at  once ;  and  who  doubts  that  we  can  present  that  sight 
if  we  but  take  hold  in  earnest?  If  you  have  been  thinking  of  it,  please 
do  not  dismiss  the  thought.* 

Besides  supporting  the  view  of  the  military  governors 
taken  above,  this  letter  also  makes  it  evident  that  the  pressure 
of  events  had  already  convinced  Mr.  Lincoln  that  to  save  the 
Union  it  was  necessary  to  possess  the  untrammeled  use  of 
every  national  resource. 

As  early  as  June  8,  1862,  the  State  was  included  in  the 
department  of  General  Halleck,  who  ten  days  later  was  re- 

'Ann.  Cycl.,i863,  p.  828. 

*  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  318. 


TENNESSEE  21 

quested  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to  report  any  information  of  value 
relative  thereto.  The  thought  of  a  movement  into  East 
Tennessee  was  in  the  mind  of  the  President  again  on  June  30, 
when  he  informed  the  commander  that  he  regarded  the  pos 
session  of  the  railroad  near  Cleveland  fully  as  important  as 
the  taking  of  Richmond.  Halleck,  concurring  in  this  opinion, 
telegraphed  Buell  that  "  the  capture  of  East  Tennessee  should 
be  the  main  object  of  the  campaign,"  the  department  com 
mander  believing  its  occupation  would  put  an  end  to  guerrilla 
warfare  both  in  that  region  and  Kentucky. 

The  inactivity  of  General  Rosecrans  for  six  months  after 
the  battle  of  Murfreesboro  left  in  the  interior  of  the  State  a 
strong  Confederate  force  whose  presence  discouraged  all  but 
the  most  pronounced  loyalists;  these,  by  means  of  meetings 
and  speeches,  kept  a  latent  Union  feeling  alive.  A  conven 
tion,  called  by  Brownlow,  Maynard  and  others,  was  held  at 
Nashville,  July  i,  1863.  Delegates  were  in  attendance  from 
forty  counties;  they  took  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States,  and  in  a  set  of  resolutions  pronounced  the  various 
secession  laws  and  ordinances  void.  Deeming  it  vitally  im 
portant  to  choose  a  legislature,  they  invited  Governor  Johnson 
to  issue  writs  of  election  as  soon  as  expedient;  with  this 
request,  however,  he  did  not  then  think  it  prudent  to 
comply. 

Other  eyes  were  observing  with  interest  the  progress  of 
events  within  the  State.  General  Hurlbut,  writing  from 
Memphis,  August  n,  1863,  relative  to  the  political  situation 
in  Arkansas,  said  he  was  satisfied  that  Tennessee  was  "  ready, 
by  overwhelming  majorities,  to  repeal  the  act  of  secession, 
establish  a  fair  system  of  gradual  emancipation,  and  tender 
herself  back  to  the  Union.  I  have  discouraged  [he  said]  any 
action  on  this  subject  here  until  East  Tennessee  is  delivered. 
When  that  is  done,  so  that  her  powerful  voice  may  be  heard, 
let  Governor  Johnson  call  an  election  for  members  of  the 


22     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Legislature,  and  that  Legislature  call  a  Convention,  and  in 
sixty  days  the  work  will  be  done."  1 

This  desirable  event  was  not  long  delayed,  for  by  brilliant 
though  bloodless  victories  both  Knoxville  and  Chattanooga 
early  in  the  following  month  were  in  possession  of  Federal 
armies.  Then  President  Lincoln  wrote  his  letter  of  Septem 
ber  n,  which,  because  of  its  great  importance,  deserves  to  be 
reproduced  in  full : 

All  Tennessee  is  now  clear  of  armed  insurrectionists.  You  need  not  to 
be  reminded  that  it  is  the  nick  of  time  for  reinaugurating  a  loyal  State 
government.  Not  a  moment  should  be  lost.  You  and  the  cooperating 
friends  there  can  better  judge  of  the  ways  and  means  than  can  be  judged 
by  any  here.  I  only  offer  a  few  suggestions.  The  reinauguration  must 
not  be  such  as  to  give  control  of  the  State  and  its  representation  in  Con 
gress  to  the  enemies  of  the  Union,  driving  its  friends  there  into  political 
exile.  The  whole  struggle  for  Tennessee  will  have  been  profitless  to 
both  State  and  nation  if  it  so  ends  that  Governor  Johnson  is  put  down 
and  Governor  Harris  is  put  up.  It  must  not  be  so.  You  must  have  it 
otherwise.  Let  the  reconstruction  be  the  work  of  such  men  only  as  can 
be  trusted  for  the  Union.  Exclude  all  others,  and  trust  that  your  govern 
ment  so  organized  will  be  recognized  here  as  being  the  one  of  republican 
form  to  be  guaranteed  to  the  State,  and  to  be  protected  against  invasion 
and  domestic  violence.  It  is  something  on  the  question  of  time  to  re 
member  that  it  cannot  be  known  who  is  next  to  occupy  the  position  I  now 
hold,  nor  what  he  will  do.  I  see  that  you  have  declared  in  favor  of 
emancipation  in  Tennessee,  for  which  may  God  bless  you.  Get  eman 
cipation  into  your  new  State  Government — Constitution — and  there  will 
be  no  such  word  as  fail  for  your  case.  The  raising  of  colored  troops,  I 
think,  will  greatly  help  every  way. 2 

The  reference  in  this  communication  to  emancipation  is 
explained  by  the  fact  that,  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of 
Andrew  Johnson  and  other  Tennessee  loyalists,  the  President 
in  his  proclamation  of  January  i,  1863,  nad  not  mentioned 
that  State.8 

Believing  that  his  commission  as  military  governor  did  not 

1  Abraham  Lincoln,  A  History  by  Nicolay  &  Hay,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  440. 

a  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  405. 

*  History  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  p.  303. 


TENNESSEE  23 

confer  upon  him  powers  adequate  to  every  emergency  that 
might  arise  in  the  important  work  of  restoring  a  loyal  gov 
ernment  Mr.  Johnson,  to  supply  this  deficiency,  prepared  a 
letter  which  he  submitted  for  the  approval  of  President  Lin 
coln,  who  amended  or  modified  it  to  read  as  follows : 

In  addition  to  the  matters  contained  in  the  orders  and  instructions 
given  you  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  you  are  hereby  authorized  to  ex 
ercise  such  powers  as  may  be  necessary  and  proper  to  enable  the  loyal 
people  of  Tennessee  to  present  such  a  republican  form  of  State  govern 
ment  as  will  entitle  the  State  to  the  guaranty  of  the  United  States  there 
for,  and  to  be  protected  under  such  State  government  by  the  United  States 
against  invasion  and  domestic  violence,  all  according  to  the  fourth  sec 
tion  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.1 

This  supplemental  authority  is  dated  September  19,  and  the 
private  letter  enclosing  it  informs  Governor  Johnson  why  his 
draft  was  altered. 

It  was  about  this  time,  while  the  President  was  thus  urging 
Governor  Johnson,  that  General  Rosecrans,  surrounded  by  a 
victorious  enemy,  inquired  of  Mr.  Lincoln  whether  it  would 
not  be  well  "  to  offer  a  general  amnesty  to  all  officers  and 
soldiers  in  the  Rebellion  ?  "  In  his  reply  next  day  the  Presi 
dent,  referring  first,  as  was  his  wont,  to  the  military  situ 
ation,  added,  "  I  intend  doing  something  like  what  you  sug 
gest  whenever  the  case  shall  appear  ripe  enough  to  have  it 
accepted  in  the  true  understanding  rather  than  as  a  con 
fession  of  weakness  and  fear."  2  The  removal  soon  after  of 
General  Rosecrans  from  his  command  and  the  fortunate  ap 
pearance  at  Chattanooga  of  those  great  soldiers  of  the  first 
rank,  Grant,  Sherman,  Thomas  and  Sheridan,  made  at  Look 
out  Mountain  and  Mission  Ridge  the  occasion  which  the 
President  so  much  desired,  and  on  December  8,  1863,  he 
issued  his  famous  Proclamation  of  Amnesty  and  Reconstruc 
tion,  a  copy  of  which  was  transmitted  with  his  third  annual 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol,  II.  p.  408. 
*  Ibid,  p.,419- 


24      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

message  to  Congress.  The  impression  which  its  candid  tone 
produces  on  the  mind  of  a  student  to-day  was  the  impression 
made  at  the  time  of  its  appearance  upon  thoughtful  and  en 
lightened  men  everywhere.  Nicolay  and  Hay  in  an  interest 
ing  chapter  of  their  valuable  history  describe  the  satisfaction, 
and  even  enthusiasm,  with  which  it  was  received  by  the  ad 
herents  of  all  parties  in  Congress.  This  proclamation,  around 
which  the  later  controversy  raged,  was  authorized  by  act  of 
Congress  approved  July  17,  1862,  which,  among  other  pro 
visions,  empowered  the  President  "  at  any  time  "  thereafter 
"to  extend  to  persons  who  may  have  participated  in  the 
existing  Rebellion  in  any  State  or  part  thereof,  pardon  and 
amnesty,  with  such  exceptions  and  at  such  time  and  on  such 
conditions  as  he  may  deem  expedient  for  the  public  welfare." 
The  time  for  the  exercise  of  this  discretion  Mr.  Lincoln  be 
lieved  had  now  arrived.  Like  every  measure  conceived  in 
his  fruitful  mind  it  had  been  maturely  considered  and  was 
especially  fortunate  in  being  introduced  by  the  concluding 
paragraphs  of  the  message.  The  very  note  of  sincerity  itself 
rings  in  these  weighty  lines.  Perhaps  it  was  the  suggestion 
of  unuttered  arguments  that  gave  a  temporary  adherence  to 
the  Executive  plan,  which,  we  are  told,  was  put  forth  because 
"  It  is  now  desired  by  some  persons  heretofore  engaged  in 
said  rebellion  to  resume  their  allegiance  to  the  United  States, 
and  to  reinaugurate  loyal  State  governments  within  and  for 
their  respective  States."  The  proclamation  informed  "  all 
persons  who  have,  directly  or  by  implication,  participated  in 
the  existing  rebellion,  except  as  hereinafter  excepted,  that  a 
full  pardon  is  hereby  granted  to  them  and  each  of  them,  with 
restoration  of  all  rights  of  property,  except  as  to  slaves,  and 
in  property  cases  where  rights  of  third  parties  shall  have  in 
tervened,  and  upon  the  condition  that  every  such  person 
shall  take  and  subscribe  an  oath,  and  thenceforward  keep  and 
maintain  said  oath  inviolate;  and  which  oath  shall  be  regis- 


TENNESSEE  25 

tered  for  permanent  preservation."  This  oath  bound  the 
subscriber  thenceforth  to  "  faithfully  support,  protect,  and 
defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  union 
of  the  States  thereunder";  to  "  abide  by  and  faithfully  sup 
port  all  acts  of  Congress  passed  during  the  existing  rebellion 
with  reference  to  slaves  "  unless  repealed,  modified  or  held 
void  by  Congress,  or  by  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court;  to 
support  "  all  proclamations  of  the  President  made  during  the 
existing  rebellion  having  reference  to  slaves,  so  long  and  so 
far  as  not  modified  or  declared  void  by  decision  of  the  Su 
preme  Court." 

The  classes  excepted  from  the  benefits  of  the  amnesty  were 
all  persons  "  who  are,  or  shall  have  been,  civil  or  diplomatic 
officers  or  agents  of  the  so-called  Confederate  Government; 
all  who  have  left  judicial  stations  under  the  United  States 
to  aid  the  rebellion;  all  who  are,  or  shall  have  been,  military 
or  naval  officers  of  said  so-called  Confederate  Government 
above  the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  army  or  lieutenant  in  the 
navy;  all  who  left  seats  in  the  United  States  Congress  to 
aid  the  rebellion;  all  who  resigned  commissions  in  the 
Army  or  Navy  of  the  United  States  and  afterward  aided  the 
rebellion;  and  all  who  have  engaged  in  any  way  in  treating 
colored  persons,  or  white  persons  in  charge  of  such,  other 
wise  than  lawfully  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  which  persons 
may  have  been  found  in  the  United  States  service,  as  soldiers, 
seamen,  or  in  any  other  capacity."  1 

The  proclamation  provided  further  that  whenever,  in  any 
of  the  States  in  rebellion,  "  a  number  of  persons,  not  less  than 
one  tenth  in  number  of  the  votes  cast  in  such  State  at  the 
presidential  election  "  of  1860,  "  each  having  taken  the  oath 
aforesaid  and  not  having  since  violated  it,  and  being  a  quali 
fied  voter  by  the  election  law  of  the  State  existing  immedi 
ately  before  the  so-called  act  of  secession,  and  excluding 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  443. 


26      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

all  others,  shall  reestablish  a  State  government  which  shall 
be  republican,  and  in  nowise  contravening  said  oath,  such  shall 
be  recognized  as  the  true  government  of  the  State  and  the 
State  shall  receive  thereunder  the  benefits  of  the  Constitu 
tional  provision  which  declares  that  '  The  United  States 
shall  guaranty  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form 
of  Government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against  in 
vasion;  and,  on  application  of  the  legislature,  or  of  the  execu 
tive  (when  the  legislature  cannot  be  convened),  against  do 
mestic  violence/ ' 

Any  provision  adopted  by  such  State  relative  to  its  freed 
people  "  which  shall  recognize  and  declare  their  permanent 
freedom,  provide  for  their  education,  and  which  may  yet  be 
consistent  as  a  temporary  arrangement  with  their  present 
condition  as  a  laboring,  landless,  and  homeless  class,  will  not 
be  objected  to  by  the  national  executive.''  In  constructing  a 
loyal  government  in  any  State,  it  was  thought  not  improper 
to  suggest  that  "  the  name  of  the  State,  the  boundary,  the 
subdivisions,  the  constitution,  and  the  general  code  of  laws,  as 
before  the  rebellion,  be  maintained,  subject  only  to  the  modifi 
cations  made  necessary  by  the  conditions  hereinbefore  stated, 
and  such  others,  if  any,  not  contravening  said  conditions, 
and  which  may  be  deemed  expedient  by  those  framing  the 
new  State  government." 

To  avoid  every  occasion  of  misunderstanding  it  was  ex 
pressly  stated  that  the  proclamation  "  has  no  reference  to 
States  wherein  loyal  State  governments  have  all  the  while 
been  maintained."  The  President  disclaimed  any  authority 
to  admit  members  to  seats  in  Congress,  each  House  being 
"  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns,  and  qualifications  of  its 
own  members."  1 

In  conclusion  it  was  observed  that  "  while  the  mode  pre 
sented  is  the  best  the  executive  can  suggest,  with  his  present 

1  Art.  I.  sec.  5,  Constitution  of  the  U.  S. 


TENNESSEE  27 

impressions,  it  must  not  be  understood  that  no  other  possible 
mode  would  be  acceptable."  1 

To  get  an  enrollment  of  those  willing  to  take  the  oath 
prescribed  in  the  amnesty  proclamation  the  President,  about 
the  middle  of  January,  1864,  sent  an  agent  to  Tennessee,  as 
he  had  already  sent  one  to  Louisiana  and  to  Arkansas.  About 
the  same  time  Governor  Johnson  himself  was  considering 
the  subject  of  reconstruction;  and  on  the  2ist,  to  begin  pro 
ceedings,  called  a  public  meeting  at  Nashville.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  he  said :  "  Treason  must  be  made  odious, 
traitors  must  be  punished  and  impoverished;  "  slavery  he 
pronounced  dead  and  declared  that  reconstruction  must  leave 
it  out  of  view.  The  meeting,  which  was  largely  attended, 
adopted  resolutions  recommending  a  constitutional  conven 
tion  and  pledged  support  of  only  those  candidates  who  favored 
immediate  and  universal  emancipation.  The  Governor,  how 
ever,  was  cautious,  and,  January  26,  1864,  issued  a  call  for  an 
election,  on  the  first  Saturday  of  March  following,  for  the 
choice  of  only  county  officers. 

The  ex- Con  federate  and  the  loyalist  having  been  placed 
by  the  amnesty  proclamation  on  an  equal  footing,  some  dis 
satisfaction  was  aroused  among  unconditional  Union  men. 
To  retain  the  confidence  of  this  class  and  to  set  at  rest  the 
hostile  feeling  thus  excited  in  the  State,  Governor  Johnson 
framed  the  oath  of  allegiance  more  stringently  than  Mr.  Lin 
coln  had  done.  This  variance  occasioned  discussion  and 
delay  and  brought  inquiries  and  protests  to  the  President, 
who,  to  prevent  confusion,  telegraphed,  February  20,  1864, 
Warren  Jordan,  of  Nashville,  as  follows : 

In  county  elections  you  had  better  stand  by  Governor  Johnson's 
plan;  otherwise  you  will  have  conflict  and  confusion.  I  have  seen  his 
plan.2 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  443-444. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  486. 


28      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

A  week  later  he  assured  the  Hon.  E.  H.  East,  Secretary  of 
State  for  Tennessee,  that 

There  is  no  conflict  between  the  oath  of  amnesty  in  my  proclamation 
of  eighth  December,  1863,  and  that  prescribed  by  Governor  Johnson  in 
his  proclamation  of  the  twenty-sixth  ultimo.1 

While  it  is  perfectly  true  that  no  discrepancy  existed  be 
tween  the  proclamation  of  the  President  and  that  of  the 
military  governor,  the  latter  required  an  additional  test.  This 
the  communication  to  Mr.  East  does  not  discuss. 

To  avoid,  however,  any  possible  mischief  from  this  source 
Mr.  Lincoln,  March  26,  issued  a  supplemental  proclamation 
which  explained  that  the  amnesty  applied  only  to  "persons 
who  being  yet  at  large  and  free  from  any  arrest,  confinement, 
or  duress,  shall  voluntarily  come  forward  and  take  the  said 
oath,  with  the  purpose  of  restoring  peace  and  establishing 
the  national  authority."  2  Prisoners  excluded  from  the  am 
nesty  offered  in  the  proclamation  of  December  8,  like  all  other 
offenders,  might  apply  to  the  executive  for  clemency  and  have 
their  applications  receive  due  consideration.  This  oath,  it 
was  made  known,  could  be  taken  before  any  commissioned 
officer  of  the  United  States,  civil,  military  or  naval,  or  before 
any  officer  authorized  to  administer  oaths,  in  a  State  or 
Territory  not  in  insurrection.  Such  officers  were  empowered 
to  give  certificates  thereon  to  persons  by  whom  the  oath  was 
taken  and  subscribed.  The  original  records,  after  trans 
mission  to  the  Department  of  State,  were  to  be  there  deposited 
and  to  remain  in  the  Government  archives.  The  Secretary  of 
State  was  required  to  keep  a  register  of  such  oaths  and  upon 
application  to  issue  certificates  in  proper  cases  in  the  custom 
ary  form. 

Meanwhile  an  election,  the  returns  of  which  are  extremely 
meagre,  had  been  held  on  March  5  for  the  choice  of  county 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  487. 
8  Ibid.,  pp.  504-505. 


TENNESSEE  29 

officers.  Though  the  event  was  not  without  influence  in 
confirming  the  faith  of  Unionists,  it  was  chiefly  of  value  in 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  disloyal  to  the  chances  afforded 
by  the  proclamation  of  rehabilitating  themselves  in  their 
former  political  rights.  The  result,  however,  was  not  so 
favorable  as  was  expected  by  Governor  Johnson  or  the 
President,  and  reconstruction  in  Tennessee  once  more  sank 
to  rest.  From  this  condition  it  was  again  revived  by  the 
irrepressible  Union  men  of  the  State.  The  East  Tennessee 
convention  of  1861,  by  appointing  a  permanent  committee, 
had  kept  its  organization  alive.  In  April  or  May,  1864,  this 
body  called  a  convention  at  Knoxville  to  discuss  reconstruc 
tion.  Of  this  gathering  one  element  favored  the  Crittenden 
Resolutions;  the  other,  immediate  emancipation.  Probably  it 
was  this  antagonism  that  prevented  further  action.  The  next 
we  hear  is  that  Brownlow  and  others  signed  a  call  for  a  sec 
ond  convention,  which  was  held  at  Nashville  on  September  5. 
In  this  body  forty  or  fifty  counties  were  represented,  some 
of  them  irregularly;  that  is,  by  volunteer  delegates.  This 
assembly  recommended  the  election  of  a  constitutional  con 
vention,  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  State,  and  provided  for 
taking  part  in  the  approaching  Presidential  election.  The 
programme,  however,  was  only  partially  carried  out.  On 
September  30,  Governor  Johnson  issued  a  proclamation  for 
holding  the  election,  at  which  Union  voters,  so  far  as  the 
unsettled  condition  of  military  operations  permitted,  cast 
their  ballots  for  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President. 
It  does  not  appear  that  in  this  election  any  attempt  was  made 
to  choose  a  governor,  a  legislature  or  a  constitutional  conven 
tion;  but  that  which  met  in  July,  1863,  constituted  an  execu 
tive  committee,  composed  of  five  members  from  each  division 
of  the  State,  which  after  the  Presidential  election  issued  calls 
for  a  State  convention  at  Nashville,  December  19,  1864. 
"  The  people  meet,"  said  the  call,  "  to  take  such  steps  as  wis- 


3o      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

dom  may  direct  to  restore  the  State  of  Tennessee  to  its  once 
honored  status  in  the  great  national  Union. 

•  *  •  *  •* 

"If  you  cannot  meet  in  your  counties,  come  upon  your  own 
personal  responsibility.  It  is  the  assembling  of  Union  men 
for  the  restoration  of  their  own  commonwealth  to  life  and  a 
career  of  success."  * 

Hood's  advance  upon  Nashville  preventing  a  response  to 
this  address,  the  convention  did  not  meet  till  January  9,  1865. 
The  enemy  had  then  been  dispersed.  The  State  being  free 
from  further  alarms  of  war,  the  convention  met  and  pro 
posed  important  alterations  in  the  State  constitution. 

The  first  article  provided :  "  That  slavery  and  involuntary 
servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party 
shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  are  hereby  forever  abolished 
and  prohibited  throughout  the  State  ";  also  that  "  The  legis 
lature  shall  make  no  law  recognizing  the  right  of  property  in 
man."  The  old  constitution  of  Tennessee  prohibited  the  as 
sembly  from  passing  laws  to  emancipate  slaves  without  the 
consent  of  the  owner;  that  prohibition  was  now  removed. 
"  The  declaration  of  independence  and  ordinance  dissolving 
the  federal  relations  between  the  State  of  Tennessee  and  the 
United  States  of  America,"  passed  by  the  Legislature,  May  6, 
1 86 1,  was  abrogated  and  declared  "  an  act  of  treason  and 
usurpation,  unconstitutional,  null  and  void."  All  laws,  ordi 
nances,  and  resolutions  of  the  usurped  State  government 
passed  on  and  after  the  6th  day  of  May,  1861,  providing  for 
the  issuance  of  State  bonds;  also  all  notes  of  the  Bank  of 
Tennessee  or  any  of  its  branches  issued  on  or  after  May  6, 
1 86 1,  and  all  debts  created  in  the  name  of  the  State  by 
said  authority  were  declared  unconstitutional,  null  and  void. 
Future  legislatures  were  restrained  from  the  redemption  of 
said  bonds.  It  was  further  provided  that  "  The  qualification 

1  Misc.  Doc.  No.  55,  p.  5,  H.  of  R.,  i  Sess.  3Qth  Cong. 


TENNESSEE  31 

of  voters  and  the  limitation  of  the  elective  franchise  may  be 
determined  by  the  general  assembly,  which  shall  first  assemble 
under  the  amended  constitution." 

The  convention  completed  its  labors  on  January  26,  1865. 
The  amendatory  articles  were  submitted,  February  22,  to  the 
people,  and  ratified  by  a  vote  of  21,104  to  4°-  The  schedule 
provided  in  the  event  of  ratification  that  the  loyal  people  of 
the  State  should,  on  the  4th  of  March  next  thereafter,  pro 
ceed  by  general  ticket  to  elect  a  governor  and  members  to  the 
general  assembly  to  meet  in  the  capitol  at  Nashville  on  the 
first  Monday  of  April,  1865. 

A  proclamation  of  Governor  Johnson,  issued  on  January 
26,  referred  to  the  respectable  character  of  the  convention  and 
commended  its  wisdom  in  submitting  for  the  approval  of  the 
electors  the  result  of  its  deliberations.  His  executive  powers 
had  been  employed  to  enable  the  people  freely  to  express  their 
judgment  on  the  grave  question  before  them.  Provision,  he 
declared,  would  be  made  to  collect  the  sentiments  of  loyal 
Tennesseeans  in  the  army.  The  paper  concludes  with  this 
vigorous  exhortation :  "  Strike  down  at  one  blow  the  insti 
tution  of  slavery,  remove  the  disturbing  element  from  your 
midst,  and  by  united  action  restore  the  State  to  its  ancient 
moorings  again,  and  you  may  confidently  expect  the  speedy 
return  of  peace,  happiness,  and  prosperity."  * 

About  a  month  later,  February  25,  he  had  the  happiness  to 
congratulate  the  people  of  Tennessee  on  the  favorable  result 
of  the  election.  By  their  solemn  act  at  the  ballot-box  the 
shackles  had  been  stricken  from  the  limbs  of  more  than 
275,000  bondmen. 

The  convention  which  proposed  the  constitutional  amend 
ments  had,,  in  anticipation  of  its  ratification,  nominated  Wil 
liam  G.  ["  Parson  "]  Brownlow  for  Governor,  and  recom 
mended  a  full  legislative  ticket.  The  nominee  of  the  conven- 

1  Misc.  Doc.  No.  55,  p.  9,  H.  of  R.,  i  Sess.  3gth  Cong. 


32      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

tion  was  chosen  March  4,  almost  without  opposition,  receiv 
ing  23,352  votes  against  35  scattering.  Having  been  elected 
on  a  general  ticket  the  members  of  both  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  received  the  same  support  as  the  Governor. 
The  Legislature  met  at  Nashville,  and  in  a  few  days  there 
after  Mr.  Brownlow  was  inaugurated.  Civil  administration 
was  thus  formally  begun. 

That  the  successive  steps  to  restoration  in  Tennessee  may 
be  easily  traced,  the  narrative  has  not  been  interrupted  to  relate 
even  matters  of  undoubted  importance.  Almost  a  year  before 
the  occurrences  described,  the  Republican  national  convention 
had  assembled  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  and  on  June  6,  1864, 
unanimously  nominated  Andrew  Johnson  for  Vice-President 
on  the  ticket  with  Mr.  Lincoln.  Tidings  of  the  fact  aroused 
great  enthusiasm  when  it  became  known  in  Nashville.  In 
addressing  an  immense  meeting  called  for  that  occasion  Gov 
ernor  Johnson,  among  other  things,  said :  "  While  society  is 
in  this  disordered  state,  and  we  are  seeking  security,  let  us  fix 
the  foundations  of  our  government  on  principles  of  eternal 
justice,  which  will  endure  for  all  time.  There  are  those  in 
our  midst  who  are  for  perpetuating  the  institution  of  slavery. 
Let  me  say  to  you,  Tennesseeans,  and  men  from  the  Northern 
States,  that  slavery  is  dead.  It  was  not  murdered  by  me.  I 
told  you  long  ago  what  the  result  would  be  if  you  endeavored 
to  go  out  of  the  Union  to  save  slavery;  and  that  the  result 
would  be  bloodshed,  rapine,  devastated  fields,  plundered  vil 
lages  and  cities;  and  therefore  I  urged  you  to  remain  in  the 
Union.  In  trying  to  save  slavery  you  killed  it,  and  lost  your 
own  freedom."  * 

In  his  letter  to  Hon.  William  Dennison,  accepting  the  nom 
ination,  he  wrote : 

The  authority  of  the  Government  is  supreme,  and  will  admit  of  no 
rivalry.  No  institution  can  rise  above  it  whether  it  be  slavery  or  any 

1  Life  of  Andrew  Johnson,  pp.  159-160. 


TENNESSEE  33 

organized  power.  In  our  happy  form  of  government  all  must  be  subordi 
nate  to  the  will  of  the  people,  when  reflected  through  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws  made  pursuant  thereto  —  State  or  Federal.  This  great  prin 
ciple  lies  at  the  foundation  of  every  government,  and  cannot  be  disre 
garded  without  the  destruction  of  the  government  itself. 

In  accepting  the  nomination  I  might  here  close,  but  I  cannot  forego 
the  opportunity  of  saying  to  my  old  friends  of  the  Democratic  party 
proper,  with  whom  I  have  so  long  and  pleasantly  been  associated,  that 
the  hour  has  now  come  when  that  great  party  can  justly  vindicate  its  de 
votion  to  true  democratic  policy  and  measures  of  expediency.  The  war 
is  a  war  of  great  principles.  It  involves  the  supremacy  and  life  of  the 
Government  itself.  If  the  rebellion  triumphs,  free  government — North 
and  South — fails.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Government  is  successful, 
as  I  do  not  doubt,  its  destiny  is  fixed,  its  basis  permanent  and  enduring, 
and  its  career  of  honor  and  glory  just  begun.  In  a  great  contest  like 
this,  for  the  existence  of  free  government,  the  path  of  duty  is  patriotism 
and  principle.  Minor  considerations  and  questions  of  administrative 
policy  should  give  way  to  the  higher  duty  of  first  preserving  the  Govern 
ment,  and  then  there  will  be  time  enough  to  wrangle  over  the  men  and 
measures  pertaining  to  its  administration.1 

For  reasons  at  which  Mr.  Lincoln  hinted  in  his  letter  of 
March  26,  1863,  few  men  in  Congress  exerted  in  the  begin 
ning  of  the  war  so  decided  an  influence  upon  public  opinion 
in  the  North  as  did  Mr.  Johnson.  His  conduct  as  military 
governor  in  no  way  diminished  this  popularity.  His  courage 
in  that  trying  position  no  less  than  his  devotion  to  the  interests 
of  the  Union  won  him  ardent  admirers  in  every  loyal  State. 

Vice-President  Hamlin  appears  to  have  been  the  victim  of 
an  intrigue  which  represented  him  as  being  no  material  source 
of  strength  to  the  government  and  as  scarcely  loyal  to  the  ad 
ministration.  This  injurious  suspicion,  which  seems  to  have 
had  no  substantial  basis  in  truth,  happened  to  coincide  with 
a  growing  conviction  that  the  Republican  party  should 
strengthen  itself  by  placing  on  the  ticket  with  Lincoln  some 
prominent  leader  of  the  opposition.  In  this  connection  the 
names  of  General  Butler,  John  A.  Dix,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson 

*Life  of  Andrew  Johnson,  pp.  160-161.  New  York:  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.,  1866. 


34      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  Andrew  Johnson  were  mentioned.  The  last  named  was 
charged  in  his  administration  of  the  office  of  military  gov 
ernor  with  harshness  and  even  with  oppression.  Investiga 
tion  proved  these  rumors  to  be  without  foundation,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  displeased  to  find  them  groundless. 
It  does  not  appear  that  he  was  especially  favorable  to  John 
son,  but  he  regarded  him  as  indispensable  to  the  Union  cause 
in  Tennessee;  Johnson  was  a  slave-holder,  was  somewhat 
more  outspoken  than  Butler  or  Dix,  and  a  more  conspicuous 
representative  of  the  large  class  known  as  War  Democrats; 
above  all  he  was  an  able  exponent  of  Southern  Union  senti 
ment  and  he  came  from  the  very  heart  of  the  Confederacy. 
Perhaps  no  single  element  of  strength  made  him  more  accept 
able  to  the  majority  of  the  convention  than  this  last  consid 
eration.  Even  these  qualifications  might  not  have  singled 
him  out  for  the  distinction  conferred  were  it  not  for  the  en 
thusiasm  created  by  a  remarkable  speech  of  Horace  Maynard, 
which  mentioned  Mr.  Johnson  as  a  man  who  "  stood  in  the 
furnace  of  treason."  His  administration  as  military  gov 
ernor  had  been  distinguished  for  vigor  and  ability,  and  it  does 
not  appear  that  the  radical  Republicans  then  regarded  his 
State  without  the  Union.  Some  of  his  measures  were  un 
doubtedly  severe,  but  the  peculiar  situation  in  Tennessee  re 
quired  the  employment  of  methods  not  adapted  to  times  of 
peace.  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not,  of  course,  show  his  hand  in 
the  Baltimore  convention.  In  fact  he  repeatedly  declined  to 
interfere.1 

On  October  15,  1864,  the  ten  electors  on  the  McClellan 
ticket  presented  through  Mr.  John  Lellyett,  one  of  their  num 
ber,  a  protest  to  the  President  against  the  proclamation  pub 
lished  by  Governor  Johnson  relative  to  the  pending  election. 

'McClure's  Lincoln  and  Men  of  War  Times,  pp.  106-108;  Elaine's 
Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II.  p.  7;  Hamlin's  Life  and  Times  of 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  pp.  449-489  and  591-615. 


TENNESSEE  35 

His  paper,  they  asserted,  contained  provisions  for  holding  elec 
tions  which  differed  materially  from  the  mode  prescribed  by 
the  laws  of  Tennessee.  The  proclamation,  it  was  alleged, 
would  admit  persons  to  vote  who  were  not  entitled  by  the 
State  constitution  to  participate  in  the  election;  by  another  pro 
vision  which  authorized  the  opening  of  but  one  polling-place 
in  each  -county,  many  legal  voters  would  be  unable  to  exercise 
the  franchise.  The  unusual  and  impracticable  test  oath  pro 
posed,  was  stated  as  a  further  grievance,  and  they  complained 
generally  of  military  interference  with  the  freedom  of  elec 
tions.  To  their  representations  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  orally 
that  General  McClellan  and  his  friends  could  manage  their 
side  of  the  contest  in  their  own  way.  He  could  manage  his 
side  of  it  in  his  way.1  In  a  written  reply  of  the  22d,  how 
ever,  the  President  said  that  he  perceived  no  military  reason 
for  interfering  in  the  matter,  and  on  the  same  occasion  re 
minded  the  protestants  that  the  conducting  of  a  Presidential 
election  in  Tennessee  under  the  old  code  had  become  an  impos 
sibility.2 

In 'their  reply  to  the  written  communication  of  the  Presi 
dent,  they  asserted  that  an  orderly  meeting  of  General  Mc- 
Clellan's  friends  had  been  broken  up  by  Union  soldiers,  and 
a  reign  of  terror  inaugurated  in  Nashville.  These  acts  hav 
ing  been  countenanced  by  Governor  Johnson,  they  announced 
the  withdrawal  of  the  McClellan  electoral  ticket  in  Tennes 
see.3 

In  these  circumstances  the  Union  electors  were,  of  course, 
chosen;  but  their  votes,  though  offered,  were  not  counted  by 
Congress  in  the  joint  convention  of  February  8,  1865,  for 
the  reason  that  Tennessee  was  on  November  8  preceding  in 
such  a  state  that  no  free  election  was  held. 4 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  438-439. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  425. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  441. 

*For  a  discussion  of  this  subject  see  Chapter  IX. 


II 

LOUISIANA 

THE  first  movement  toward  reconstruction  in  Louisiana, 
as  in  the  case  of  Tennessee,  was  bound  up  with  the 
war  powers  of  the  President,  and,  no  doubt,  was  made 
with  some  expectation  of  aiding  his  military  plans.  The 
thought  of  restoring  a  loyal  government  there  proceeded  quite 
naturally  from  the  peculiar  situation  in  the  State.  Though 
not  so  nearly  unanimous  for  secession  as  South  Carolina,  her 
people  acted  with  energy  and  promptness  when  they  received 
tidings  of  "  this  last  insult  and  outrage,"  as  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  sensationally  styled.1  Three  days  were 
deemed  sufficient  for  deliberation,  and  the  convention,  January 
25,  1 86 1,  passed  an  ordinance  of  secession.  Two  weeks  be 
fore  this  assembly  met  at  Baton  Rouge,  the  arsenal  and  the 
forts,  a  public  building  and  a  revenue  cutter  had  been  seized 
by  State  troops  from  New  Orleans.  In  the  mint  and  the  cus 
tom  house  of  that  city  more  than  half  a  million  dollars  was 
secured  for  the  Confederate  States,  and  in  accepting  these 
funds  the  Montgomery  Congress  expressed  its  "  high  sense 
of  the  patriotic  liberality  "  of  Louisiana.2  This  act  of  gener 
osity,  however,  loses  much  of  its  merit  when  it  is  remembered 
that  both  the  coin  and  bullion  in  the  mint,  as  well  as  the 
customs,  belonged  to  the  Federal  government.  Besides,  there 
was  then  no  scarcity  of  money  in  the  State,  for  Northern 
enterprise  had  found  for  her  cotton  and  her  sugar  profit- 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  427. 
*McPher son's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  4n. 

36 


LOUISIANA  37 

able  markets  both  at  home  and  abroad.  It  was  benefits  of 
this  sort,  enjoyed  in  the  Union,  that  enabled  Governor  Moore 
in  January,  1861,  to  report  to  his  Legislature  an  overflowing 
treasury.1  This  undoubted  prosperity  served  only  to  aggra 
vate  the  war  fever.  Enthusiasm  in  New  Orleans  was  only 
less  ardent  and  general  than  in  Charleston.  Business  was  al 
most  suspended,  and  by  the  first  of  June  no  less  than  16,000 
residents  of  Louisiana  were  serving  in  the  Confederate  army.2 

President  Lincoln's  proclamation  of  April  19  preceding 
had  inaugurated  a  blockade  of  every  port  within  the  State. 
The  early  days  of  July  witnessed  the  disappearance  of  Gov 
ernor  Moore's  boasted  surplus,  and  during  the  summer  New 
Orleans  became  bankrupt;8  her  foreign  commerce  was  de 
stroyed  by  the  blockade,  her  credit  had  vanished.  Though 
enlistments  continued  without  interruption,  signs  of  financial 
distress  multiplied  with  the  approach  of  winter.  Rebellion, 
it  was  soon  discovered,  was  not  attended  with  unmixed  bless 
ings;  bad  government  had  produced  its  usual  consequences, 
and  when  Governor  Taylor,  late  in  the  summer  of  1862,  un 
dertook  to  raise  an  army  for  the  defence  of  his  State  he  was 
surprised  at  the  universal  apathy;  neglect  and  disaster  had 
brought  disunionists  to  a  condition  little  short  of  hostility 
to  the  Richmond  government.4 

Union  men  in  southern  Louisiana  had  not  been  unobserv 
ant  of  these  signs;  permanent  residents  of  this  portion  of  the 
State  had,  for  the  most  part,  maintained  their  loyalty  to  the 
General  Government.  Indeed,  a  decided  majority  of  them 
in  the  election  of  1860  had  voted  for  Bell  and  Douglas,  and 
though  here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  South,  ardent  secessionists 
were  found,  the  proceedings  in  the  convention  took  the  Union 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  25 ;  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  428. 

2  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  432. 
» Ibid. 

4  Taylor's  Destruction  and  Reconstruction,  pp.  102-103. 


38     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

men  by  surprise.1  In  the  interval  they  had  refrained  from 
violence,  but  had  not  become  reconciled  to  oppression. 

The  importance  of  New  Orleans  to  their  cause  had  not 
been  overlooked  by  Confederate  authorities,  and  that  city  was 
held  firmly  in  their  grasp  until  the  fleet  of  Captain  Farragut, 
toward  the  close  of  April,  1862,  steamed  up  in  hostile  array 
before  its  defences.  The  occupation  by  General  Butler's 
army  of  this  strategic  position  ended  in  southern  Louisiana 
the  activity  of  the  more  extreme  secessionists,  and  though 
some  restlessness  at  the  presence  of  Federal  forces  was  pre 
tended  by  even  Union  men,  they  had  not  until  the  surrender 
made  any  serious  effort  to  help  themselves.  Under  protec 
tion  of  the  army,  however,  they  commenced  immediately  to 
form  Union  associations  for  the  purpose  of  developing  the 
loyal  sentiment  in  this  part  of  the  State.  Resolutions  recom 
mending  an  election  were  passed  by  these  organizations; 
newspapers  discussed  the  question,  and  in  various  ways  it 
was  forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  President.2  The  more 
prudent  and  intelligent  among  them  began  under  encourage 
ment  of  Federal  troops  to  consider  measures  for  relief;  the 
less  practical  commenced  writing  complaints  to  friends  in  the 
North. 

In  a  private  letter  of  July  26,  1862,  to  Hon.  Reverdy 
Johnson,  then  in  New  Orleans  investigating  General  Butler's 
.relations  with  foreign  consuls,  Mr.  Lincoln,  noticing  a  refer 
ence  to  the  restlessness  of  the  people  under  the  rule  of  Gen 
eral  Phelps,  asks  the  Maryland  Senator  to  pardon  him  for 
believing  the  complaint  "  a  false  pretense."  A  way  to  avert 
the  inconveniences  arising  from  military  occupation  was  for 
the  people  of  Louisiana  "  simply  to  take  their  place  in  the 
Union  upon  the  old  terms."3  Writing  two  days  later  to 

1McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  I. 
8  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  589. 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  214-215 ;  Ann.  Cycl., 
1862,  p.  650. 


LOUISIANA  39 

Cuthbert  Bullett,  a  Southern  gentleman  who  appears  to  have 
enjoyed  his  personal  esteem  and  confidence,  the  President, 
after  mentioning  difficulties  in  the  way  of  establishing  civil 
authority  in  the  State,  suggested  a  method  of  avoiding  them : 
"  The  people  of  Louisiana  who  wish  protection  to  person  and 
property/'  he  wrote,  "  have  but  to  reach  forth  their  hands  and 
take  it.  Let  them  in  good  faith  reinaugurate  the  national 
authority,  and  set  up  a  State  government  conforming  thereto 
under  the  Constitution.  They  know  how  to  do  it,  and  can 
have  the  protection  of  the  army  while  doing  it.  The  army  will 
be  withdrawn  so  soon  as  such  State  government  can  dispense 
with  its  presence;  and  the  people  of  the  State  can  then,  upon 
the  old  constitutional  terms,  govern  themselves  to  their  own 
liking."  1  If,  however,  Union  men  exerted  themselves  no 
further  than  criticism  of  the  Federal  Government,  it  was 
more  than  intimated  that  there  were  to  be  expected  greater 
injuries  than  military  necessity  had  yet  inflicted. 

The  pressure  of  events  appears  even  then  to  have  been 
forcing  the  President  in  the  direction  of  emancipation.  To 
August  Belmont,  of  New  York,  who  enclosed  the  complaints 
of  a  New  Orleans  correspondent,  Mr.  Lincoln,  July  31,  1862, 
repeated  in  substance  what  had  already  been  written  to  Mr. 
Bullett,  and  added :  "  Those  enemies  must  understand  that 
they  cannot  experiment  for  ten  years  trying  to  destroy  the 
government,  and  if  they  fail  still  come  back  into  the  Union 
unhurt.  If  they  expect  in  any  contingency  to  ever  have  the 
Union  as  it  was,  I  join  with  the  writer  [Mr.  Belmont's  cor 
respondent]  in  saying,  *  Now  is  the  time/  "  2 

The  appointment  in  August,  1862,  of  General  George  F. 
Shepley  as  military  governor  may  be  regarded  as  the  first 
act -in  the  restoration  of  a  loyal  government  for  Louisiana. 
His  selection,  though  probably  intended  as  a  private  com 
mendation  of  the  judgment  of  General  Butler,  who  had 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.,  p.  216. 
8  Ibid.,  pp.  217-218. 


40     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

already  designated  him  as  Mayor  of  New  Orleans,  was  never 
considered  by  that  officer  adequate  atonement  for  the  public 
censure  implied  in  his  removal,  December,  1862,  from  com 
mand  of  the  Department  of  the  Gulf. 

Upon  the  Federal  occupation  of  New  Orleans  and  adjacent 
territory  all  functions  of  the  disloyal  government  therein  im 
mediately  ceased.  As  controversies  were  constantly  arising 
the  establishment  of  courts  had  become  a  necessity.  At  first 
these  questions  were  for  the  most  part  adjudicated  by  General 
Butler  himself,  but  the  pressure  of  military  and  other  affairs 
compelled  him  soon  to  refer  their  settlement  to  civilians  or  to 
army  officers  especially  chosen  for  the  purpose.  This  uncer 
tain  system  of  justice,  though  immeasurably  better  than  none, 
led  to  the  institution  of  courts  each  of  which  was  known  by 
the  name  of  the  officer  holding  it.  Accused  persons  were 
brought  to  trial,  and  judgments  executed  by  soldiers  detailed 
for  such  duty.  No  formal  record  of  proceedings  in  these 
tribunals  appears  to  have  been  kept,  though  memoranda  of 
judgments  rendered  were,  no  doubt,  made  by  an  officer  who 
came  eventually  to  be  designated  as  clerk. 

For  the  decision  of  questions  relating  exclusively  to  the 
force  under  his  command  General  Butler  some  time  in  June, 
1862,  organized  a  tribunal  known  as  the  Provost  Court  of 
the  Army  of  the  United  States,  over  which  Major  Joseph  M. 
Bell  presided.  Questions  in  no  way  connected  with  the  mili 
tary,  especially  matters  of  police  and  the  punishment  of 
crimes,  were  often  submitted  for  its  determination.  Ag 
grieved  persons,  without  reflecting  upon  the  consequence  of 
their  acts,  naturally  appealed  for  redress  to  the  holder  of 
power.  Thus  the  authority  of  this  institution  silently  ex 
tended,  and  by  the  autumn  of  1862  it  exercised  unquestioned 
jurisdiction  over  all  criminal  cases  arising  in  the  city  of  New 
Orleans.1  In  the  absence  of  courts  for  adjudicating  civil 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  586. 


LOUISIANA  41 

questions  they,  too,  were  referred  to  its  consideration.  All 
functions  of  government  having  been  suspended  by  the  cap 
ture  of  the  city,  it  became  the  duty  of  the  Federal  commander, 
and  his  right  by  the  laws  of  war,  to  provide,  among  other 
things,  for  the  administration  of  justice. 

One  of  the  early  acts  of  General  Shepley  after  his  appoint 
ment  as  Military  Governor  was  to  establish  a  system  of 
courts  for  the  State.  Most  of  the  former  officials  having 
fled  after  the  surrender,  he  was  compelled  practically  to 
create  new  tribunals,  and  this  task  he  greatly  simplified  by 
reviving  those  institutions  of  justice  with  which  the  people 
of  Louisiana  were  already  familiar.  John  S.  Whittaker  was 
accordingly  appointed  Judge  of  the  Second  District  Court 
of  the  parish  of  Orleans.  Besides  possessing  in  civil  matters 
the  ordinary  powers  of  a  local  court  the  old  tribunal  of  that 
name  had  been  a  court  of  probates  and  successions.  The  new 
exercised  all  the  powers  of  the  old  court.  It  should  be  re 
membered,  however,  that  the  latter  derived  its  authority  from 
the  laws  of  Louisiana,  while  the  former  owed  its  existence  to 
the  war  powers  of  the  Federal  Executive.  Its  jurisdiction 
extended  to  civil  cases  generally  where  the  defendant  resided 
in  the  parish  of  Orleans  or  was  a  non-resident  of  the  State.1 

Judge  Hiestand  was  appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  Fourth 
District  Court  of  the  parish  of  Orleans.  Besides  possessing 
the  general  authority  of  other  district  courts  in  that  parish  it 
entertained  appeals  from  justices'  courts;  indeed,  these  con 
stituted  a  large  part  of  its  business.2 

The  Sixth  District  Court  of  the  parish  of  Orleans,  revived 
soon  after  the  capture  of  the  city,  is,  because  of  the  incumbent 
of  that  bench,  Judge  Rufus  K.  How  ell,  of  greater  interest 
than  either  of  the  preceding.  Under  a  commission  received 
from  the  State  of  Louisiana  before  its  attempted  secession  he 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  586. 
1  Ibid. 


42     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

continued  to  preside  over  that  tribunal  while  the  disunion 
party  ruled  New  Orleans,  and  performed  his  functions  up 
to  the  very  hour  of  its  surrender  to  the  Federal  authorities. 
Having  early  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  national 
Government  he  was  permitted  to  resume  his  functions.1  Like 
the  tribunals  mentioned,  this  court  retained  and  exercised 
all  the  powers  that  it  possessed  as  originally  constituted. 

These  courts,  instituted  during  September  and  October, 
1862,  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties  about  the  ist 
of  November  following.  They  were  the  only  tribunals  of 
civil  jurisdiction  in  Louisiana,  and  that  jurisdiction  was 
limited,  as  against  defendants  resident  of  the  State,  to  citizens 
of  the  parish  of  Orleans.  As  to  inhabitants  beyond  the  limits 
of  that  parish  there  was  no  court  in  which  they  could  be 
sued.  Though  the  Federal  forces  held  several  counties  in 
this  condition,  their  tenure  fluctuated  with  the  fortunes  of 
war.  A  court  was  therefore  needed  whose  jurisdiction  would 
expand  with  the  advance,  and  contract  with  the  retreat,  of 
the  Union  armies.  The  Provost  Court  was  not  deemed  ade 
quate,  and  indeed  was  never  designed  to  meet  such  contin 
gencies.  To  supply  this  deficiency  a  tribunal  of  very  exten 
sive  powers,  designated  as  "  a  court  of  record  for  the  State 
of  Louisiana,"  was  constituted  by  Executive  order  on  October 
20.  Of  this  flexible  institution  Charles  A.  Peabody,  of  New 
York,  a  friend  of  Secretary  Seward,  was  made  provisional 
judge.  Besides  being  empowered  to  select  a  prosecuting  at 
torney,  a  marshal  and  a  clerk,  and  to  make  rules  for  the  exer 
cise  of  his  jurisdiction,  he  was  authorized  "  to  hear,  try  and 
determine  all  causes,  civil  and  criminal,  including  causes  in 
law,  equity,  revenue  and  admiralty,  and  particularly  all  such 
powers  and  jurisdiction  as  belong  to  the  District  and  Circuit 
Courts  of  the  United  States,  conforming  his  proceedings,  so 
far  as  possible,  to  the  course  of  proceedings  and  practice 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  586. 


LOUISIANA  43 

which  has  been  customary  in  the  Courts  of  the  United  States 
and  Louisiana — his  judgment  to  be  final  and  conclusive." 
These  officers  were  to  be  paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of 
the  War  Department,  and  a  copy  of  the  Executive  order, 
certified  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  was  "  held  to  be  a  sufficient 
commission  "  for  the  Judge. 

This  institution,  made  up  as  to  its  personnel  in  the  North, 
was  sent  from  New  York  with  the  great  expedition  of  General 
Banks  constituted  and  organized  for  immediate  business  to 
Louisiana.  Though  Judge  Peabody,  accompanied  by  Augus 
tus  de  B.  Hughes,  Isaac  Edward  Clarke  and  George  D.  La- 
mont,  who  had  been  chosen,  respectively,  clerk,  marshal  and 
prosecuting  attorney,  arrived  in  New  Orleans  December  15, 
1862,  the  opening  of  court  was  delayed  till  the  2Qth  of 
that  month  by  a  change  of  administration  in  that  De 
partment.1 

In  addition  to  the  tribunals  described  many  other  courts 
were  established  about  this  time;  of  these  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Louisiana  is  the  only  one  which  appears  to  require  especial 
mention.  In  former  times  under  the  State  judicial  system 
appeals  had  lain  to  this  institution,  and  it  was  accordingly 
held  that  decisions  of  the  courts  now  created  were  subject 
to  its  revision.  In  this  manner  many  of  their  judgments  were 
stayed  and  in  suspense,  so  that  the  new  district  courts  were  of 
little  practical  benefit.  The  necessity  of  a  tribunal  to  remedy 
this  deficiency  and  adjudicate  the  accumulated  cases  of  former 
years  soon  became  apparent,  and  in  April,  1863,  Mr.  Peabody 
was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  State  Supreme  Court; 
associated  with  him  on  this  bench  were  judges  chosen  from 
among  the  people  of  Louisiana. 

Nearly  a  week  before  his  appointment  of  Judge  Peabody, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  by  the  hand  of  Hon.  John  E.  Bouligny,  who  had 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  587;  Ibid.,  pp.  770-776.  Scott's  Reconstruction 
During  the  Civil  War,  pp.  325-326,  328-331,  376. 


44     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

not  left  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  when  South 
ern  delegations  withdrew  from  Congress,  sent  to  General 
Butler,  Governor  Shepley  and  other  Federal  officers  having 
authority  under  the  United  States  in  Louisiana  a  communica 
tion  requesting  each  of  them  to  assist  Mr.  Bouligny  in  his 
effort  to  secure  "  peace  again  upon  the  old  terms  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States." *  This  desirable  end 
was  to  be  attained  by  the  election  of  "  members  to  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  particularly,  and  perhaps  a  legisla 
ture,  State  officers,  and  United  States  senators  friendly  to 
their  object."  Federal  officers  were  instructed  to  give  the 
people  a  chance  to  express  their  wishes  at  these  elections. 
"  Follow  forms  of  law,"  wrote  the  President,  "  as  far  as  con 
venient,  but  at  all  events  get  the  expression  of  the  largest 
number  of  the  people  possible.  All  see  how  such  action  will 
connect  with  and  affect  the  proclamation  of  September  22. 
Of  course  the  men  elected  should  be  gentlemen  of  character, 
willing  to  swear  support  to  the  Constitution,  as  of  old,  and 
known  to  be  above  reasonable  suspicion  of  duplicity."  2 

Loyal  leaders,  believing  that  Northern  men  holding  office 
under  the  General  Government  in  Louisiana  would  be  set  up 
as  candidates,  communicated  their  fears  to  the  President,  who 
sent  to  Governor  Shepley  a  fortnight  before  the  election  a 
letter  of  which  the  essential  portion  is  as  follows : 

We  do  not  particularly  need  members  of  Congress  from  there  to  enable 
us  to  get  along  with  legislation  here.  What  we  do  want  is  the  conclu 
sive  evidence  that  respectable  citizens  of  Louisiana  are  willing  to  be 
members  of  Congress  and  to  swear  support  to  the  Constitution  and  that 
other  respectable  citizens  there  are  willing  to  vote  for  them  and  send 
them.  To  send  a  parcel  of  Northern  men  here  as  representatives,  elected, 
as  would  be  understood  (and  perhaps  really  so),  at  the  point  of  the  bay 
onet,  would  be  disgusting  and  outrageous;  and  were  I  a  member  of 
Congress  here,  I  would  vote  against  admitting  any  such  man  to  a  seat.* 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  247. 

'Ibid. 

•Ibid., p.  255- 


LOUISIANA  45 

The  note  of  sincerity  is  unmistakable  throughout,  and  in 
those  Representatives  and  Senators  opposed  to  Executive 
policy  the  concluding  sentences  especially  must  have  excited 
strange  emotions  when  they  re-read  in  after  years  their  im 
passioned  attacks  in  Congress  upon  that  dark  spirit  who, 
it  was  gravely  alleged,  labored  with  might  unquestioned  to 
subordinate  the  Legislative  branch  of  Government. 

The  Union  associations  referred  to  appointed  committees 
who  waited  upon  General  Shepley  and  demanded  an  election. 
This  he  hesitated  to  call  until  considerable  pressure  had  first 
been  exerted.  The  sentiments  of  the  President  concurring 
with  the  local  feeling  in  New  Orleans,  Shepley  finally  yielded, 
and  on  November  14,  1862,  issued  a  proclamation  for  an 
election  to  be  held  December  3d  following.  This  election,  in 
the  language  of  his  proclamation,  was  ordered  "  for  the  pur 
pose  of  securing  to  the  loyal  electors  "  of  both  the  First 
and  Second  Congressional  Districts  "  their  appropriate  and 
lawful  representation  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  of  enabling  them  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  benefits  secured  by  the  proclamation  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  the  people  of  any  State,  or 
part  of  a  State,  who  shall  on  the  first  day  of  January  next 
be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  by  members  chosen  thereto  at  elections  wherein  a 
majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such  State  have  partici 
pated."  * 

In  addition  to  the  qualifications  prescribed  by  the  laws  of 
Louisiana,  General  Shepley  required  each  elector  to  take  an 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  and  from  among 
the  old  and  respected  citizens  of  the  State  appointed  sheriffs 
and  commissioners  of  election,  who  performed  their  duties 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  both  candidates  and  voters.  The 
army,  for  reasons  given  above,  refrained  from  all  man- 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  835. 


46     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

ner  of  interference,  and  no  Federal  office-holder  was  a 
nominee. 

For  the  first  time  in  many  years,  it  was  admitted,  every 
qualified  elector  might  freely  cast  his  ballot  without  fear 
of  intimidation  or  violence.  In  a  total  of  2,643  votes  Ben 
jamin  F.  Flanders  was  chosen,  with  little  opposition,  for  the 
First,  and  Michael  Hahn,  by  a  safe  majority,  for  the  Second 
Congressional  District.  A  larger  vote  was  actually  cast  for 
Flanders  than  had  been  received  by  his  predecessor,  and  in 
both  districts  7,760  citizens,  or  about  half  the  usual  number, 
appeared  at  the  polls.  When  it  is  remembered  that  four  thou 
sand  soldiers  who  enlisted  in  Butler's  army  from  this  part 
of  the  State  did  not  participate  in  the  contest,  that  many 
citizens  from  this  section  were  serving  in  the  Confederate 
army  and  that  not  a  few  Union  men  were  exiles  in  the  North 
or  in  Europe  the  vote  in  this  election  was  by  no  means  light. 

With  credentials  signed  by  Governor  Shepley,  Messrs. 
Hahn  and  Flanders  appeared  in  Washington  as  claimants  for 
seats  in  Congress.  After  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
election  and  several  ingenious  arguments  in  opposition  both 
were  admitted,  February  17,  1863,  though  not  without  con 
siderable  misgiving,  as  Representatives  for  the  remainder  of 
the  term,  which  expired  March  3  following.  For  their  ex 
clusion  the  opposition  relied  mainly  upon  these  grounds : 

First.  The  election,  it  was  asserted,  was  brought  about  by 
a  threat  of  interference  with  slave  property  if  the  State  was 
not  represented  in  Congress  by  January  i,  1863;  this  was  a 
measure  of  coercion,  and  the  compliance  of  citizens  in  appear 
ing  at  the  polls  was  ascribed  to  selfish  motives  rather  than  to 
loyal  and  patriotic  sentiments. 

Second.  The  existence  of  any  vacancy  in  a  constitutional 
sense  was  at  least  doubtful;  and  even  if  vacancies  existed  in 
these  districts  the  authority  of  a  military  governor  to  call  an 
election  was  denied. 


LOUISIANA  47 

Third.  It  was  objected  that  Governor  Shepley  had  dis 
pensed  with  the  registry  required  by  law  and  had  empowered 
commissioners  of  election  to  decide  upon  the  qualifications  of 
voters;  finally,  by  requiring  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
United  States,  he  had  imposed  upon  electors  a  test  unknown 
to  the  laws  of  Louisiana.1 

While  the  cases  of  Messrs.  Hahn  and  Flanders  were  pend 
ing  the  edict  of  freedom  had  gone  forth,  for  the  President, 
as  announced  in  his  preliminary  proclamation  of  September 
22,  had  declared,  January  i,  1863,  "  as  a  fit  and  necessary 
war  measure,"  that  "  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  said 
designated  States  and  parts  of  States,  are  and  henceforward 
shall  be  free/'  2  Louisiana  was  named  as  one  of  the  States 
in  rebellion.  From  the  operation  of  this  measure,  however, 
the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  thirteen  parishes  of  the  State 
were  excepted. 

The  admission,  February  17,  of  Hahn  and  Flanders  gave 
new  life  to  the  political  reorganization  of  the  State.3  But 
with  this  revival  of  interest  there  was  discovered  among 
the  supporters  of  the  Federal  Government  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  best  course  to  be  pursued  in  the  circum 
stances.  This  division  of  sentiment  arose  concerning  the  wis 
dom  of  retaining  slavery  in  those  parishes  not  included  in  the 
President's  proclamation.  The  Union  associations,  each  ap 
pointing  five  delegates,  organized  what  they  termed  a  Free 
State  General  Committee  with  Thomas  J.  Durant  as  presi 
dent.  This  body,  holding  anti-slavery  views  and  assuming 
that  rebellion  had  destroyed  the  fundamental  law,  took  meas 
ures  to  elect  delegates  to  a  general  convention  for  the  pur 
pose  of  framing  a  new  constitution  prohibiting  slavery. 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  831-837,  1030-1036. 

2  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  228-229. 

8  Elaine's  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II.  p.  39;  Nicolay  ard  Hay's 
Lincoln,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  419. 


48     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Their  plan  was  approved  by  General  Shepley,  who,  June  12, 
1863,  appointed  Mr.  Durant  Attorney-General  for  the  State, 
with  power  to  act  as  commissioner  of  registration.1  He  was 
ordered  on  the  same  day  to  make  an  enrollment  of  all  free 
white  male  citizens  of  the  United  States  having  resided 
six  months  in  the  State  and  one  month  in  the  parish,  who 
should  each  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  register  "  as  a 
voter  freely  and  voluntarily  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a 
State  government  in  Louisiana,  loyal  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States."  * 

The  conservative  element,  though  less  active,  was  by  no 
means  indifferent  to  these  measures,  and  sent  to  Washington 
a  committee  of  planters  to  consult  the  President.  They 
represented  in  a  communication  to  him  that  they  had  "  been 
delegated  to  seek  of  the  General  Government  a  full  recogni 
tion  of  all  the  rights  of  the  State  as  they  existed  previous  to 
the  passage  of  an  act  of  secession,  upon  the  principle  of  the 
existence  of  the  State  constitution  unimpaired,  and  no  legal 
act  having  transpired  that  could  in  any  way  deprive  them  of 
the  advantages  conferred  by  that  constitution."  They  further 
requested  him  to  direct  the  Military  Governor  to  order  an 
election  on  the  first  Monday  of  November  following  for  all 
State  and  Federal  officers.3  To  this  committee,  composed  of 
E.  E.  Malhiot,  Bradish  Johnson  and  Thomas  Cottman,  Mr. 
Lincoln,  under  date  of  June  19,  1863,  replied  "  that  a  respec 
table  portion  of  the  Louisiana  people  desired  to  amend  their 
State  constitution,  and  contemplated  holding  a  State  conven 
tion  for  that  object.  This  fact  alone,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  a 
sufficient  reason  why  the  General  Government  should  not 
give  the  committal  you  seek  to  the  existing  State  constitution. 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  589. 
'  N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  420. 

8  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  590;  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II. 
P-  536. 


LOUISIANA  49 

I  may  add  that  while  I  do  not  perceive  how  such  committal 
could  facilitate  our  military  operations  in  Louisiana,  I  really 
apprehend  it  might  be  so  used  as  to  embarrass  them."  1 

It  is  evident,  when  we  recall  the  letter  of  July  26,  1862,  to 
Reverdy  Johnson,  that  the  President,  then  only  contemplating 
emancipation,  had,  since  his  proclamation  had  gone  forth, 
taken  much  more  advanced  ground.2  The  army  was  still 
his  main  reliance,  and  the  wisdom  of  restoring  a  loyal  govern 
ment  as  well  as  the  method  of  that  restoration  was  regarded 
favorably  or  otherwise  as  it  appeared  to  facilitate  or  em 
barrass  military  operations. 

Relative  to  an  election  in  November  he  said,  "  There  is 
abundant  time  without  any  order  or  proclamation  from  me 
just  now."  Though  their  request  was  courteously  denied, 
he  assured  the  committee  that  the  people  of  Louisiana  should 
not  lack  an  opportunity  for  a  fair  election  for  both  Federal 
and  State  officers  by  want  of  anything  within  his  power  to 
give  them.3 

The  political  reorganization  of  the  State  was  at  this  point 
interrupted  by  the  absence  at  Port  Hudson  of  General  N.  P. 
Banks,  then  in  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Gulf.  So 
energetic  and  successful  was  the  Confederate  General  Taylor 
that  by  July  10,  when  he  received  intelligence  of  the  fall  of 
Port  Hudson  and  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg,  his  mounted 
scouts  had  been  pushed  to  within  sixteen  miles  of  New  Or 
leans.  4  The  surrender  in  these  strongholds  of  more  than  40,- 
ooo  men  was  a  crushing  blow  to  the  Richmond  Government; 
enough  troops  were  disengaged  by  these  victories  to  over 
whelm  the  enemy  that  menaced  New  Orleans,  and  General 
Taylor  hurriedly  concentrated  his  army  in  the  valley  of  the 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  356. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  214-215. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  356. 

4  Taylor's  Destruction  and  Reconstruction,  ch.  x ;  also  the  general  his 
tory  of  military  operations  in  the  Red  River  country. 


50     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Red  River  to  observe  the  movements  of  the  Federal  com 
mander.  The  Union  picket  line  marked  at  this  time  the 
bounds  of  Governor  Shepley's  civil  jurisdiction;  indeed,  it 
was  not  greatly  extended  until  the  surrender  of  General 
E.  Kirby  Smith  late  in  May,  1865,  after  the  engagement  at 
Brazos.  Eastern  Louisiana,  with  Alabama  and  Mississippi, 
had  passed  a  few  weeks  earlier  under  Federal  control. 

The  great  numbers  withdrawn  from  production  in  the 
South  combined  with  a  rigorous  enforcement  of  the  blockade 
had  occasioned  a  cotton  famine  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 
To  relieve  this  condition  an  outlet  was  sought  for  the  abun 
dant  crops  of  the  Red  River  country ;  and  this  fact  was  prob 
ably,  not  without  considerable  influence,  in  determining  the 
course  of  the  expedition  into  Texas,  which  was  intended 
to  accomplish  a  very  different  though  scarcely  less  important 
purpose. 

Though  the  vigilance  of  Mr.  Adams,  United  States  Minis 
ter  to  England,  was  rewarded  by  the  abandonment  in  that 
country  of  any  further  attempt  to  build  cruisers  of  the  Ala 
bama  type,  the  Confederate  naval  agent  by  no  means  de 
spaired  of  dealing  still  severer  blows  to  the  commerce  of 
the  North,  and,  attracted  by  promises  which  appear  to  have 
been  authorized  by  the  ruler  of  France,  changed  his  field  of 
activity  from  Liverpool  to  Bordeaux,  where  a  ship-builder 
was  engaged  to  construct  two  formidable  rams.  With  the 
attempts  to  get  these  under  the  Confederate  flag  this  essay 
is  not  concerned.1  French  interests  in  Mexico  appeared  at 
that  time  to  require  the  cultivation  of  friendly  relations  with 
what  some  European  States  believed  was  destined  to  be 
come  a  new  power  among  the  nations  of  the  world;  hence 
Napoleon's  encouragement  to  the  Confederate  representatives 
abroad.  This  situation  was  so  seriously  regarded  by  the 

1  Bulloch's  Secret  Service  of  the  Confederate  States  in  Europe,  Vol.  II. 
chs.  i  and  ii. 


LOUISIANA  51 

Government  at  Washington  that  even  at  considerable  sacri 
fice  it  was  determined  to  plant  the  Union  flag  somewhere  in 
Texas.  To  effect  this  object  General  Banks  had  considered 
and  submitted  to  the  War  Department  plans  of  his  own; 
these,  however,  appear  to  have  been  reluctantly  abandoned  be 
cause  of  repeated  instructions  from  General  Halleck,  and  the 
movement  toward  Shreveport  in  the  spring  and  early  sum 
mer  of  1864  was  begun.  From  the  protracted  and  enven 
omed  controversy  to  which  it  gave  rise  among  the  officers  on 
both  sides  its  disastrous  ending  is  familiar  to  all.1 

While  this  joint  land  and  naval  expedition  was  yet  in 
contemplation  Mr.  Lincoln  found  time  to  inform  the  Federal 
commander  of  his  opinions  respecting  the  establishment  of  a 
civil  government  in  Louisiana.  In  his  letter  of  August  5, 
1863,  to  General  Banks  he  wrote: 

While  I  very  well  know  what  I  would  be  glad  for  Louisiana  to  do, 
it  is  quite  a  different  thing  for  me  to  assume  direction  of  the  matter.  I 
would  be  glad  for  her  to  make  a  new  constitution  recognizing  the 
emancipation  proclamation,  and  adopting  emancipation  in  those  parts  of 
the  State  to  which  the  proclamation  does  not  apply.  And  while  she  is 
at  it,  I  think  it  would  not  be  objectionable  for  her  to  adopt  some  prac 
tical  system  by  which  the  two  races  could  gradually  live  themselves  out 
of  the  old  relation  to  each  other,  and  both  come  out  better  prepared  for 
the  new.  Education  for  young  blacks  should  be  included  in  the  plan. 
After  all,  the  power  or  element  of  "  contract "  may  be  sufficient  for  this 
probationary  period;  and,  by  its  simplicity  and  flexibility,  may  be  the 
better. 

As  an  anti-slavery  man,  I  have  a  motive  to  desire  emancipation  which 
pro-slavery  men  do  not  have;  but  even  they  have  strong  enough  reason 
to  thus  place  themselves  again  under  the  shield  of  the  Union;  and  to 
thus  perpetually  hedge  against  the  recurrence  of  the  scenes  through  which 
we  are  now  passing. 

He  expressed  his  approval  of  the  registry  which  he  sup 
posed  Mr.  Durant  was  making  with  a  view  to  an  election 
for  a  constitutional  convention,  the  work  of  which,  he  hoped, 

1'N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VIII.  pp.  285-286;  Conduct  of  the  War,  Vol.  II.  pp. 
1-401  (passim). 


52     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

would  reach  Washington  by  the  meeting  of  Congress  in 
December.  Before  concluding  this  letter  he  added :  "  For 
my  own  part,  I  think  I  shall  not,  in  any  event,  retract  the 
emancipation  proclamation;  nor,  as  executive,  ever  return 
to  slavery  any  person  who  is  freed  by  the  terms  of  that  proc 
lamation,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress."  1 

He  again  invites  attention  to  the  fact  that  if  Louisiana 
should  send  members  to  Congress  their  admission  would 
depend  upon  the  respective  Houses  and  not  to  any  extent  upon 
the  wishes  of  the  Executive. 

Copies  of  this  communication  he  intended  to  send  to  Hahn, 
Flanders  and  Durant.  Three  months  later,  when  the  gentle 
man  last  named  informed  him  that  nothing  had  yet  been 
done  toward  the  enrollment,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  immediately 
to  General  Banks  a  letter  which  at  once  reveals  both  the 
extent  of  his  interest  in  this  subject  and  his  extreme  disap 
pointment  on  learning  that  his  wishes  had  been  but  little 
regarded.  Flanders,  then  in  Washington,  confirmed  the  ac 
count  of  Durant.  "  This  disappoints  me  bitterly,"  said  the 
letter  of  November  5,  1863,  and  though  the  President  did 
not  blame  either  General  Banks  or  the  Louisiana  leaders  for 
this  apparent  neglect  he  urged  them  "  to  lose  no  more  time." 
"I  wish  him  [General  Shepley],  .  .  ."  continued  the 
letter,  "  without  waiting  for  more  territory,  to  go  to  work 
and  give  me  a  tangible  nucleus  which  the  remainder  of  the 
State  may  rally  around  as  fast  as  it  can,  and  which  I  can 
at  once  recognize  and  sustain  as  the  true  State  government. 
And  in  that  work  I  wish  you  and  all  under  your  command 
to  give  them  a  hearty  sympathy  and  support. 

"  The  instruction  to  Governor  Shepley  bases  the  move 
ment  (and  rightfully,  too)  upon  the  loyal  element.  Time  is 
important.  There  is  danger,  even  now,  that  the  adverse 
element  seeks  insidiously  to  preoccupy  the  ground.  If  a  few 
1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  380. 


LOUISIANA  53 

professedly  loyal  men  shall  draw  the  disloyal  about  them,  and 
colorably  set  up  a  State  government,  repudiating  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation  and  reestablishing  slavery,  I  cannot 
recognize  or  sustain  their  work.  I  should  fall  powerless  in 
the  attempt.  This  Government  in  such  an  attitude  would  be 
a  house  divided  against  itself. 

"  I  have  said,  and  say  again,  that  if  a  new  State  govern 
ment,  acting  in  harmony  with  this  government,  and  con 
sistently  with  general  freedom,  shall  think  best  to  adopt  a 
reasonable  temporary  arrangement  in  relation  to  the  landless 
and  homeless  freed  people,  I  do  not  object;  but  my  word  is 
out  to  be  for  and  not  against  them  on  any  question  of  their 
permanent  freedom.  I  do  not  insist  upon  such  temporary  ar 
rangement,  but  only  say  such  would  not  be  objectionable  to 
me."1 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Thomas  J.  Durant,  who 
was  authorized  to  make  the  enrollment  as  well  as  to  appoint 
"  registers  "  to  assist  him,  was  spokesman  of  the  wealthy  and 
influential  class  of  planters,  or  the  conservative  element  whose 
interests  opposed  any  disturbance  of  existing  conditions.  He 
appears  to  have  drawn  for  the  President  a  somewhat  gloomy 
picture  of  the  political  situation  in  Louisiana,  and  finally  to 
have  protested  against  the  government  organized  by  the  ad 
verse  party.  The  outlook  there,  however,  was  not  so  dis 
couraging  as  represented;  for  as  early  as  October  9  Gov 
ernor  Shepley  had  renewed  his  order  for  the  registration, 
modifying  the  former  one  so  far  as  to  include  "all  loyal 
citizens." 

Interest  was  somewhat  quickened  by  the  announcement  of 
certain  conservative  leaders  of  an  intention  to  hold  a  volun 
tary  election  in  conformity  with  the  old  constitution  and  laws 
of  the  State.  On  October  27,  1863,  an  address  signed  by  the 
president  and  vice-president  of  the  Central  Executive  Com- 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  436. 


54     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

mittee  was  published  in  the  papers  of  New  Orleans.     This 
appeal,  directed  to  the  loyal  citizens  of  Louisiana,  begins: 

The  want  of  civil  government  in  our  State  can,  by  a  proper  effort  on 
your  part,  soon  be  supplied,  under  laws  and  a  constitution  formed  and 
adopted  by  yourselves  in  a  time  of  profound  peace.  It  is  made  your  duty, 
as  well  as  your  right,  to  meet  at  the  usual  places,  and  cast  your  votes  for 
State  and  parish  officers,  members  of  Congress,  and  of  the  State  Legis 
lature. 

The  day,  as  fixed  by  our  laws,  is  Monday,  the  2d  day  o£  November 
next,  1863.  There  is  nothing  [proceeds  the  address]  to  prevent  your 
meeting  on  the  day  fixed  by  law,  and  selecting  your  agents  to  carry  on 
the  affairs  of  government  in  our  own  State.  The  military  will  not  inter 
fere  with  you  in  the  exercise  of  your  civil  rights  and  duties,  and  we 
think  we  can  assure  you  that  your  action  in  this  respect  will  meet  the 
approval  of  the  National  Government. 

The  failure  of  those  citizens  addressed  to  exercise  their 
rights,  it  was  asserted,  would  subject  "  the  country  "  to  the 
danger  of  being  thrown  as  "  vacated "  territory  into  the 
hands  of  Congress.1 

The  Free  State  Committee  having  been  invited  to  cooper 
ate,  a  correspondence  ensued  between  the  rival  organizations; 
but,  on  the  ground  that  this  movement  was  both  illegal  and 
unjust,  the  Free  State  men  declined  to  participate  in  the  elec 
tion.  In  their  reply  the  latter  assert  that  "  There  is  no  law 
in  existence,  as  stated  by  you  [The  Executive  Central  Com 
mittee],  directing  elections  to  be  held  on  the  first  Monday 
of  November. 

"  The  constitution  of  1852,  as  amended  by  the  convention 
of  1 86 1,  was  overthrown  and  destroyed  by  the  rebellion  of  the 
people  of  Louisiana,  and  the  subsequent  conquest  by  the 
arms  of  the  United  States  does  not  restore  your  political 
institutions."  * 

The  reply  then  proceeds  to  discuss  the  injustice  of  the 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  591. 

2  Ibid. 


LOUISIANA  55 

movement,  and  upon  this  subject  its  reasoning  is  entitled  to 
more  respect.  As  to  the  status  of  the  constitution  of  1852,  it 
is  not  easy  to  comprehend  how  the  secession  convention,  a 
body  universally  regarded  as  revolutionary,  could  amend,  in 
the  manner  attempted,  the  fundamental  law,  seeing  that  this 
revolution  was  not  yet  crowned  with  success. 

Though  no  general  election  was  held  in  response  to  this 
address,  voting  took  place  in  two  parishes,  and  certain  persons 
were  chosen  as  Representatives  in  Congress.  Before  giving 
an  account  of  this  election  of  November  2,  1863,  it  may  be 
proper  to  notice  a  petition  submitted  by  the  free  colored  people 
of  New  Orleans  to  Governor  Shepley  praying  to  be  registered 
as  voters  so  that  they  could  "  assist  in  establishing  in  the  new 
Convention  a  Civil  Government "  for  their  "  beloved  State 
of  Louisiana."  This  address,  prepared  at  a  meeting  on  No 
vember  5,  and  not  without  ability,  recites  in  appropriate  lan 
guage  the  services  rendered  by  free  colored  men  to  both  the 
Nation  and  the  State.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe  here  that 
their  prayer  was  not  granted.  The  paper  itself  will  be  con 
sidered  in  discussing  the  successive  steps  which  led  to  the 
complete  enfranchisement  of  the  race.1 

The  preceding  chapter  has  noticed  President  Lincoln's 
Amnesty  Proclamation  of  December  8  as  well  as  that  part  of 
the  accompanying  message  to  Congress  discussing  his  plan 
for  restoring  Union  governments  in  the  insurgent  States. 

The  House  had  not  completed  its  organization  for  the 
Thirty-eighth  Congress  when  Thaddeus  Stevens,  a  Represent 
ative  from  Pennsylvania,  either  from  curiosity  or  an  anxiety 
to  oppose,  as  he  conceived,  the  policy  of  the  President,  in 
quired  what  names  had  been  omitted  in  the  call  of  members. 
At  a  later  stage  of  its  first  meeting,  December  7,  1863,  he 
again  referred  to  this  subject  by  asking  to  have  read  the  cre 
dentials  of  persons  claiming  to  be  Representatives  "  from  the 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  pp.  5QI-592- 


56      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

so-called  State  of  Louisiana."  The  acting  clerk  facetiously 
promised  compliance,  and  read  a  certificate  signed  by  Mr. 
John  Leonard  Riddell  naming  A.  P.  Field,  Thomas  Cottman 
and  Joshua  Baker  as  persons  elected  to  represent  respectively 
the  First,  Second  and  Fifth  Congressional  Districts  of  the 
State.1 

On  a  resolution  "  That  A.  P.  Field  is  not  entitled  to  a  seat 
in  this  House  from  the  State  of  Louisiana,"  reported  January 
29,  1864,  from  the  Committee  of  Elections,  his  right  to  ad 
mission  was  fully  discussed. 

Under  the  apportionment  of  1850  that  State  sent  four,  and 
by  the  census  of  1860  became  entitled  to  five,  Representatives. 
By  an  act  of  Congress  approved  July  14,  1862,  each  State 
entitled  to  more  than  one  member  in  the  lower  House  was  to 
be  divided  into  as  many  districts  as  it  had  been  allotted 
Representatives. 

But,  said  Chairman  Dawes,  as  Louisiana  had  never  been 
so  divided  no  person  in  that  State  had  been  chosen  according 
to  Federal  law.  The  election  under  which  'Mr.  Field  claimed 
a  seat  occurred  in  the  old  First  Congressional  District,  which, 
with  a  great  portion  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  included  two 
adjacent  parishes,  Placquemines  and  St.  Bernard.  On  No 
vember  i,  General  Shepley  issued  a  military  order  forbidding 
the  election,  and  none  was  held  in  New  Orleans.  In  the  two 
outlying  parishes,  however,  under  the  auspices  of  a  citizens' 
committee,  to  which  returns  were  made,  a  few  voters  ap 
peared  at  the  polls.  In  the  parish  of  St.  Bernard,  the  only 
locality  in  which  the  House  had  any  proof  that  electors  par 
ticipated,  Mr.  Field  received  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  votes, 
and  though  no  evidence  in  support  of  his  statement  had  been 
offered,  about  the  same  number,  he  alleged,  had  been  cast 
for  him  in  Placquemines. 

The  question  was,  proceeded  Mr.  Dawes,  whether  a  gentle- 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  5-6. 


LOUISIANA  57 

man  with  this  constituency  could  be  in  any  sense  considered 
as  having  been  elected.  There  were  in  his  district  over  10,- 
ooo  qualified  voters,  and  of  these  the  claimant  received  the 
support  of  only  one  hundred  and  fifty-six;  hence  nearly  ten 
thousand  electors  expressed  no  opinion,  armed  interference 
having  prevented  9,844  of  them  from  indicating  a  preference. 
There  was  no  evidence  that  this  majority  acquiesced  in  what 
was  done  by  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  men  in  a  corner  of  St. 
Bernard  parish  where  an  election  was  permitted.  If  no  other 
objection  existed,  the  State  had  not  been  districted  as  re 
quired  by  the  Act  of  July,  1862;  this  consideration  of  itself 
appeared  to  the  Committee  a  reason  sufficient  for  his  exclu 
sion.  Further,  his  certificate  was  signed  by  one  John  Leonard 
Riddell,  himself  chosen  Governor  at  the  same  time  and  in 
the  same  parishes.  His  term,  according  to  the  laws  of  Louisi 
ana,  did  not  commence  till  January  i,  1864,  and  it  was  not 
easy  to  comprehend  how  he  came  to  regard  himself  as  Execu 
tive  of  the  State  on  November  20,  1863,  when  he  signed  the 
certificate  presented  by  the  claimant.  Mr.  Riddell,  indeed, 
had  not  then  been  inaugurated. 

Had  not  Congress  failed  to  divide  the  State,  the  suppres 
sion  of  this  election  would  have  been  without  justification 
and  have  deserved  the  condemnation  of  the  House.  It,  how 
ever,  did  not  conform  to  the  laws  of  Louisiana,  for  the  votes 
were  not  cast  nor  were  they  counted  or  canvassed  as  pre 
scribed  thereby.  This,  in  substance,  was  the  argument  of  Mr. 
Dawes. 

By  other  members  attention  was  invited  to  the  fact  that 
under  the  same  laws  and  conditions  an  election  had  been 
held  in  Louisiana  a  year  before,  and  in  consequence  two 
Representatives  admitted.  To  this  observation  Mr.  Stevens 
replied  that  Hahn  and  Flanders,  the  members  referred  to, 
had  been  seated  by  the  power  of  the  House  without,  as  he 
then  supposed,  any  law  or  right.  Henry  Winter  Davis  alone 


58      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

among  all  who  spoke  on  the  question  approved  the  action 
of  the  Military  Governor  on  the  ground  that  there  was  no 
legal  right  to  hold  an  election,  and  the  attempt  of  any  number 
of  persons  to  do  so  was  an  usurpation  of  sovereign  authority 
which  was  properly  prevented.  Other  Representatives,  how 
ever,  strongly  condemned  this  act  of  Governor  Shepley  and 
at  least  one  desired  the  House  to  express  as  an  amendment 
to  the  resolution  its  disapproval  of  his  conduct.  Though  not 
the  question  in  debate,  there  could  be  no  mistaking  upon 
this  point  the  sentiments  of  a  majority  of  the  members. 

Mr.  Field,  permitted  to  address  the  House,  observed  that 
it  was  the  fault  of  the  General  Government  that  Union  men 
in  Louisiana  had  not  been  aided  by  the  previous  administra 
tion.  If  they  had  been,  the  blood  of  Illinois  and  Massachu 
setts  patriots  would  not  have  sprinkled  the  soil  of  his  State. 

To  show  that  some  sort  of  government  existed  there  he 
caused  the  clerk  to  read  a  list  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
officers  acting  in  those  parishes  included  within  Federal 
military  lines,  and  added  that  though  New  Orleans  since  its 
capture  paid  annually  in  taxes,  collected  through  Governor 
Shepley,  two  and  a  half  million  dollars,  besides  a  considerable 
sum  in  internal  revenue,  her  people  were  represented  neither 
in  the  local  nor  the  national  Government. 

The  constitution  of  Louisiana,  he  said,  required  that  quali 
fied  electors  should  be  white  males  who  had  attained  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years,  and  been  residents  of  the  State  for 
twelve  months  immediately  preceding  the  election.  The  pro 
vision  was  so  modified  by  Governor  Shepley  that  persons  of 
this  description  were  allowed  to  vote  after  a  residence  of  six 
months.  Mr.  Field  did  not  know  whence  was  derived  the 
authority  to  amend  constitutions. 

To  secure  his  cooperation  in  establishing  a  loyal  govern 
ment  Union  men  met  as  early  as  September  19  in  conven 
tion  at  New  Orleans,  and  appointed  a  committee  of  nine  to 


LOUISIANA  59 

present  an  address  to  the  Military  Governor  inviting  his 
assistance.  He  declined,  however,  after  a  lengthy  interview 
to  order  an  election  for  Representatives  until  the  State  had 
first  been  divided.  In  fact,  until  instructions  which  he  had 
requested,  were  received  from  Washington  he  refused  to  order 
any  election  whatever,  though  he  volunteered  to  forward  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  any  communication  which  they  desired  to  address 
him  on  that  subject.  Besides  its  correspondence  with  Gov 
ernor  Shepley,  the  New  Orleans  convention  on  September  21 
had  sent  a  letter  to  General  Banks,  the  Department  com 
mander,  to  secure  if  possible  his  approval  of  their  movement. 

Notice,  dated  October  20,  was  given  that  an  election  would 
be  held,  November  2,  at  the  usual  places  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Bernard,  and  the  State  and  Federal  offices  to  be  filled,  as 
well  as  the  precise  places  at  which  voters  could  cast  their 
ballots,  were  mentioned.  Since  the  military  authorities  had 
refused  to  assist  them,  and  had  then  issued  no  order  against 
an  election,  loyal  men  thought  it  not  improper  to  express 
their  opinions  at  the  polls.  As  the  Free  State  people  con 
sidered  Louisiana  out  of  the  Union  they  declined  to  partici 
pate,  and  though  General  Banks  in  obedience  to  instructions 
from  the  President  had  subsequently  ordered  an  election  they 
maintained  the  same  attitude.  The  claimant's  party  did  not 
oppose  this  order;  for  if  unable  to  restore  their  State  in  the 
manner  most  acceptable  they  were  willing  to  cooperate  in  any 
method  likely  to  accomplish  that  object. 

Precisely  what  number  of  voters  would  be  called  a  con 
stituency  Mr.  Field  had  not  been  informed.  In  the  portion  of 
his  Congressional  District  included  in  St.  Bernard  and 
Placquemines  parishes  there  were  only  2,400  electors,  and  the 
President's  plan  required  only  one  tenth  of  the  number  of 
votes  cast  in  1860.  Though  the  election  of  November  2  pre 
ceded  the  Executive  proclamation,  that  fact  should  not  make 
it  void.  The  electors  in  New  Orleans  were  not  free  to  ex- 


60     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

press  a  choice,  and  even  if  it  had  been  otherwise  the  vote  in 
the  First  District  must  have  been  greatly  diminished  since 
1860,  for  he  was  assured  by  two  paymasters  that  7,000  men 
had  been  recruited  there  for  the  Union  army. 

Some  members  admitted  that  the  national  Government  had 
not  given  sufficient  protection  to  Union  men  in  Louisiana,  and 
therefore  should  not  now  take  advantage  of  that  neglect  to 
also  deprive  them  of  representation  in  Congress.  These  be 
lieved  that  if  Mr.  Field  had  received  a  majority  of  the  votes 
in  his  district  any  informality  in  the  election  should  be  over 
looked,  for  the  right  to  representation  in  Congress  grows 
out  of  the  Constitution,  and  regulations  governing  such 
elections  are  matters  of  mere  convenience.  The  fact  that  no 
State  organization  existed  there  did  not  create  a  legal  impedi 
ment,  and  it  was  no  objection  that  Louisiana  had  not  been  re- 
districted,  for  the  additional  member  was  not  imposed  as  a 
burden  but  as  a  right  which  she  was  free  to  exercise  or  not; 
besides^  the  greater  representation  includes  the  less. 

Notwithstanding  these  considerations,  and  strong,  though 
not  universal,  testimony  to  the  claimant's  loyalty,  he  was 
denied  admission,  February  9,  1864,  by  a  vote  of  85  to  48.1 
His  case,  however,  was  not  exactly  similar  to  that  of  Messrs. 
Hahn  and  Flanders,  as  stated  by  one  Representative,  for  they 
had  received,  in  the  circumstances,  a  comparatively  large 
vote. 

To  this  end  came  the  movement  of  the  planters  designed 
primarily  to  counteract  that  inaugurated  by  the  Free  State 
Committee,  which  also,  as  we  shall  see,  was  soon  at  variance 
with  the  military  authorities.  Important  changes  had  oc 
curred  in  the  shifting  politics  of  his  State  before  the  House 
had  taken  final  action  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Field;  these  will 
be  briefly  related. 

Military  necessity  had  led  the  President  to  issue,  Decem- 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  411-415,  543-547- 


LOUISIANA  6 1 

ber  8,  1863,  his  Proclamation  of  Amnesty  and  Reconstruction 
proposing,  though  not  rigidly  insisting  upon,  a  plan  for  rein- 
augurating  State  governments  wherever  there  existed  such  a 
loyal  nucleus  as  could  effectively  assist  in  overthrowing  the 
rebellion.  In  discussing  the  affairs  of  Tennessee  that  plan 
has  been  quoted  at  such  length  as  to  require  no  further  men 
tion  in  this  place.1 

General  Banks  on  January  8,  1864,  announced  his  intention 
of  ordering  an  election  of  State  officers.  He  was  urged  at 
this  point  by  the  Free  State  Committee  to  allow  their  election 
to  go  on,  but  he  refused  to  yield  even  under  pressure  of  an 
immense  public  meeting  favorable  to  their  object.2  Without 
his  cooperation  their  plan  was  doomed  to  failure,  and  when 
entreaties  did  not  avail  to  move  him  they  promptly  inveighed 
against  his  methods  and  his  motives  in  the  columns  of  The 
National  Intelligencer  at  Washington.  In  a  letter  dated  New 
Orleans,  January  9,  1864,  a  correspondent  writes: 

President  Lincoln  has  started  a  Missouri  case  in  Louisiana,  and  has 
made  Banks  our  master;  and  Banks  is  another  Schofield,  only  worse 
than  he.  Our  mass  meeting  last  evening  was  a  complete  success;  but 
its  object  will  be  defeated  by  Banks,  who,  under  orders  direct  from  the 
President,  declares  his  purpose  to  order  an  election  for  a  convention; 
thus  playing  into  the  hands  of  Cottman,  Riddle,  and  Fields,  and  their 
crew.  The  Union  men — the  true  Union  men — are  thunderstruck  by  the 
course  of  the  President  in  this  matter. 

We  were  not  informed  of  the  President's  orders  to  General  Banks 
until  the  hour  of  the  meeting  last  night,  and  the  meeting  was  not  in 
formed  at  all.  General  Shepley,  who  is  generally  liked,  and  who  has 
done  all  he  could  to  promote  the  free  State  cause,  and  to  organize  a  free 
State  government,  will  resign,  and  the  election  ordered  by  Banks  will  be 
purely  at  military  dictation,  and  will  be  so  regarded. 

The  correspondent  does  not  know  the  secret  springs  of  all 
these  acts  of  the  President,  but  thinks  he  has  probably  been 
deceived  by  base  and  interested  men.  "  Banks,"  he  believes, 

1  See  pp.  24-28  ante. 

'  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  pp.  592-593- 


62     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

"  has  the  unchanged  confidence  of  Mr.  Lincoln."  The  writer 
concludes  by  asking  whether  it  is  not  possible  to  get  the  Pres 
ident  to  countermand  his  orders  to  Banks  immediately,  "  and 
let  the  people  manage  matters  as  they  have  begun  to  do?  "  l 
To  prove  that  no  line  of  policy  would  be  acceptable  to  the 
Free  State  Committee  Mr.  Field,  in  his  remarks  before  the 
House,  read  in  full  the  communication  from  which  these 
excerpts  are  taken. 

To  comprehend  clearly  the  nature  of  the  controversy  which 
so  suddenly  arose  between  the  Free  State  General  Commit 
tee  and  the  Federal  commander  in  Louisiana  it  may  be  neces 
sary  to  explain  with  some  detail  the  precise  attitude  of  that 
organization  relative  to  the  question  at  issue  between  the 
adverse  parties.  In  discussing  the  respective  merits  of  the 
State  constitutions  of  1852  and  1861  the  organ  of  the  Free 
State  men  says : 

The  question  is  altogether  immaterial;  for,  in  the  conflict  of  arms 
incident  to  this  rebellion,  the  predominant  ideas  of  the  good  people  of 
Louisiana  have  far  preceded  either  constitution;  and  to  reorganize  now 
the  State  on  the  slave  basis,  which  both  constitutions  and  the  laws  passed 
under  them  recognized,  has  become  an  utter  impossibility.  Free  soil  and 
free  speech  have  grown  up  into  absolute  necessities,  directly  resulting 
from  the  war,  which  has  converted  into  dust  and  ashes  all  the  constitu 
tions  which  Louisiana  has  ever  made,  embodying  the  ideas  of  property 
in  our  fellow-man,  and  all  the  baneful  results  of  this  system  of  African 
slavery.  The  present  war  is  nothing  but  the  conflict  of  the  ideas  of 
slavery  and  liberty.  .  .  .  We  cannot  have  peace  until  public  opinion 
is  brought  quite  up  to  this  point.  We  cannot  reorganize  the  civil  govern 
ment  of  our  city,  and  still  less  that  of  our  State,  and  get  rid  of  the  fear 
ful  incubus  of  martial  law  now  pressing  down  our  energies  by  its  arbi 
trary  influence,  unless  we  believe,  give  utterance  to  and  establish  the  fun 
damental  principle  of  our  national  government:  "all  men  are  created 
free  and  equal."  We  know  of  no  better  way  to  effect  this  than  by  calling 
a  convention  as  soon  as  possible,  to  declare  the  simple  fact  that  Louisi 
ana  now  is  and  will  forever  be  a  free  State.1 

1  Globe,  Part  I...  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  543. 
'Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  590. 


LOUISIANA  63 

The  party  favoring  this  method  insisted  that  in  August, 
1863,  when  General  Shepley  was  in  Washington,  their  plan 
in  all  its  parts  was  adopted  in  a  Cabinet  meeting,  and  that  a 
special  order  issued  from  the  War  Department  directing  the 
Military  Governor  to  carry  it  into  execution.  The  movement 
for  reorganizing  the  State  would  thus  be  placed  under  control 
of  the  steadfast  opponents  of  slavery.  They  further  claimed 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  then  preferred  the  calling  of  a  convention 
to  an  election  of  State  officers  under  the  old  constitution. 
His  letter  of  August  5,  1863,  to  General  Banks  certainly 
leaves  no  doubt  as  to  his  sentiments  at  that  time,  for  he 
expressed  his  approval  of  the  enrollment  being  taken  by  Du- 
rant  with  a  view  to  an  election  for  a  constitutional  convention, 
the  mature  work  of  which,  he  thought,  should  reach  Wash 
ington  by  the  meeting  of  Congress.  The  impossibility  of  so 
expediting  registration  outside  of  New  Orleans  as  to  be  ready 
for  an  election  at  that  early  date  was  explained  to  the  Presi 
dent  by  the  Free  State  Committee. 

Mr.  B.  F.  Flanders  returning  from  Washington  in  October, 
1863,  reported  the  President  as  saying,  in  reply  to  an  objec 
tion  that  enough  territory  and  population  were  not  under  pro 
tection  of  the  Union  army  to  justify  an  election,  that  so 
great  was  the  necessity  for  immediate  action  that  he  would 
recognize  and  sustain  a  State  government  organized  by  any 
part  of  the  population  of  which  the  National  forces  then 
had  control,  and  that  he  wished  Flanders  on  his  return  to 
Louisiana  to  say  so.1 

The  registration  under  Governor  Shepley,  though  fre 
quently  interrupted,  had  proceeded,  and  the  Free  State  Com 
mittee,  to  insure  the  success  of  their  object,  conferred  with 
him  for  the  purpose  of  holding,  about  January  25,  1864,  an 
election  for  delegates  to  a  State  convention  which,  as  already 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  591. 


64     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

observed,  intended  to  frame  a  new  constitution  abolishing 
slavery  everywhere  throughout  the  State.  The  announce 
ment,  then,  on  January  8,  1864,  by  General  Banks  of  his  in 
tention  to  order  an  election  of  State  officers  under  .the  old 
constitution  was  regarded  by  them  as  a  decision  for  their 
adversaries.  Their  objections  to  the  proclamation  itself  will 
be  noticed  in  the  proper  place.  It  provided  not  only  for  an 
election  of  State  officers  on  February  22  following,  but  also 
for  the  choice  of  delegates  to  a  convention  to  be  held  in 
April  for  a  revision  of  the  constitution.  The  paramount 
objection  of  the  Free  State  men  was  that  the  election  of 
State  officers  would,  under  the  course  of  General  Banks, 
precede  that  for  delegates  to  the  convention,  the  point  at 
which  they  desired  to  begin  the  work  of  reestablishing  a  civil 
government  for  the  State. 

To  Thomas  Cottman,  who  accompanied  Mr.  Field  to 
Washington  claiming  a  seat  in  Congress  as  Representative 
from  the  Second  Louisiana  District,  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  Decem 
ber  15,  wrote: 

You  were  so  kind  as  to  say  this  morning  that  you  desire  to  return  to 
Louisiana,  and  to  be  guided  by  my  wishes,  to  some  extent,  in  the  part 
you  may  take  in  bringing  that  State  to  resume  her  rightful  relation  to 
the  General  Government. 

My  wishes  are  in  a  general  way  expressed,  as  well  as  I  can  express 
them,  in  the  proclamation  issued  on  the  eighth  of  the  present  month,  and 
in  that  part  of  the  annual  message  which  relates  to  that  proclamation. 
It  there  appears  that  I  deem  the  sustaining  of  the  Emancipation  Procla 
mation,  where  it  applies,  as  indispensable;  and  I  add  here  that  I  would 
esteem  it  fortunate  if  the  people  of  Louisiana  should  themselves  place 
the  remainder  of  the  State  upon  the  same  footing.1 

Though  this  letter  expressed  as  one  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
strongest  wishes  a  hope  that  all  Union  men  in  Louisiana 
would  "  eschew  cliquism,"  he  was  destined  to  be  disappointed, 
for  at  this  very  time  letters  from  General  Banks,  dated  De 
cember  6  and  16,  informed  him  that  Governor  Shepley,  Mr. 
1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  458-459. 


LOUISIANA  65 

Durant  and  others  had  given  him  to  understand  that  they 
were  charged  exclusively  with  the  work  of  reconstruction  in 
Louisiana  and  hence  he  had  not  felt  authorized  to  interfere. 
Other  officers  had  set  up  claims  to  jurisdiction  conflicting 
and  interfering  with  his  own  powers  of  military  administra 
tion.  Annoyed  that  a  misunderstanding  was  delaying  work 
which  he  had  been  urging  for  a  year,  the  President,  on  the 
24th  of  December,  wrote  General  Banks  as  follows : 

I  have  all  the  while  intended  you  to  be  master,  as  well  in  regard  to 
reorganizing  a  State  government  for  Louisiana,  as  in  regard  to  the  mili 
tary  matters  of  the  department;  and  hence  my  letters  on  reconstruc 
tion  have  nearly,  if  not  quite,  all  been  addressed  to  you.  My  error  has 
been  that  it  did  not  occur  to  me  that  Governor  Shepley  or  any  one  else 
would  set  up  a  claim  to  act  independently  of  you ;  and  hence  I  said  noth 
ing  expressly  upon  the  point. 

Language  has  not  been  guarded  at  a  point  where  no  danger  was 
thought  of.  I  now  tell  you  that  in  every  dispute  with  whomsoever,  you 
are  master. 

Governor  Shepley  was  appointed  to  assist  the  commander  of  the  de 
partment,  and  not  to  thwart  him  or  act  independently  of  him.  Instruc 
tions  have  been  given  directly  to  him,  merely  to  spare  you  detail  labor, 
and  not  to  supersede  your  authority.  This,  in  its  liability  to  be  miscon 
strued,  it  now  seems  was  an  error  in  us.  But  it  is  past.  I  now  distinctly 
tell  you  that  you  are  master  of  all,  and  that  I  wish  you  to  take  the  case 
as  you  find  it,  and  give  us  a  free  State  reorganization  of  Louisiana  in  the 
shortest  possible  time.  What  I  say  here  is  to  have  a  reasonable  con 
struction.  I  do  not  mean  that  you  are  to  withdraw  from  Texas,  or 
abandon  any  other  military  measure  which  you  may  deem  important. 
Nor  do  I  mean  that  you  are  to  throw  away  available  work  already  done 
for  reconstruction ;  nor  that  war  is  to  be  made  upon  Governor  Shepley,  or 
upon  any  one  else,  unless  it  be  found  that  they  will  not  cooperate  with 
you,  in  which  case,  and  in  all  cases,  you  are  master  while  you  remain  in 
command  of  the  department.1 

This  letter  making  General  Banks  "  master  "  of  the  situ 
ation  in  Louisiana  the  President  concluded  by  thanking  him 
for  his  successful  and  valuable  operations  in  Texas.  But 
before  receiving  this  extensive  authority  and  the  undoubted 
assurance  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  confidence  the  commander,  on 
1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  465-466. 


66     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

December  30,  submitted  to  the  President  a  plan  of  reconstruc 
tion  based  upon  the  Proclamation  and  the  Message  of  the 
8th  of  that  month.  For  evident  reasons  this  communica 
tion  deserves  to  be  reproduced  almost  entire : 

I  would  suggest  [says  General  Banks],  as  the  only  speedy  and  certain 
method  of  accomplishing  your  object,  that  an  election  be  ordered,  of  a 
State  government,  under  the  constitution  and  laws  of  Louisiana,  except 
so  much  thereof  as  recognizes  and  relates  to  slavery,  which  should  be 
declared  by  the  authority  calling  the  election,  and  in  the  order  authoriz 
ing  it,  inoperative  and  void.  The  registration  of  voters  to  be  made  in 
conformity  with  your  Proclamation,  and  all  measures  hitherto  taken  with 
reference  to  State  organization,  not  inconsistent  with  the  Proclamation, 
may  be  made  available.  A  convention  of  the  people  for  the  revision  of 
the  constitution  may  be  ordered  as  soon  as  the  government  is  organized, 
and  the  election  of  members  might  take  place  on  the  same  or  a  subse 
quent  day  with  the  general  election.  The  people  of  Louisiana  will  ac 
cept  such  a  proposition  with  favor.  They  will  prefer  it  to  any  arrange 
ment  which  leaves  the  subject  to  them  for  an  affirmative  or  negative 
vote.  Strange  as  this  may  appear,  it  is  the  fact.  Of  course  a  government 
organized  upon  the  basis  of  immediate  and  universal  freedom,  with  the 
general  consent  of  the  people,  followed  by  the  adaptation  of  commercial 
and  industrial  interests  to  this  order  of  things,  and  supported  by  the  army 
and  navy,  the  influence  of  the  civil  officers  of  the  Government,  and  the 
Administration  at  Washington,  could  not  fail  by  any  possible  chance  to 
obtain  an  absolute  and  permanent  recognition  of  the  principle  of  freedom 
upon  which  it  would  be  based.  Any  other  result  would  be  impossible. 
The  same  influence  would  secure  with  the  same  certainty  the  selection 
of  proper  men  in  the  election  of  officers. 

Let  me  assure  you  that  this  course  will  be  far  more  acceptable  to  the 
citizens  of  Louisiana  than  the  submission  of  the  question  of  slavery  to 
the  chances  of  an  election.  Their  self-respect,  their  amour  propre  will 
be  appeased  if  they  are  not  required  to  vote  for  or  against  it.  Offer 
them  a  government  without  slavery  and  they  will  gladly  accept  it  as  a 
necessity  resulting  from  the  war.  On  all  other  points,  sufficient  guaran 
tees  of  right  results  can  be  secured ;  but  the  great  question,  that  of  im 
mediate  emancipation,  will  be  covered  ab  initio,  by  a  conceded  and  abso 
lute  prohibition  of  slavery. 

Upon  this  plan  a  government  can  be  established  whenever  you  wish — 
in  thirty  or  sixty  days;  a  government  that  will  be  satisfactory  to  the 
South  and  the  North ;  to  the  South,  because  it  relieves  them  from  any 
action  in  regard  to  an  institution  which  cannot  be  restored,  and  which 
they  cannot  condemn;  and  to  the  North,  because  it  places  the  interests 


LOUISIANA  67 

of  liberty  beyond  all  possible  accident  or  chance  of  failure.    The  result 
is  certain."  1 

Upon  receiving  this  communication  the  President,  who 
cherished  no  plan  of  restoration  to  which  exact  conformity 
was  indispensable,  expressed,  January  13,  1864,  in  a  letter  to 
General  Banks  his  gratitude  for  the  zeal  and  confidence  mani 
fested  by  him  on  the  question  of  reinaugurating  a  free  State 
government  in  Louisiana.  He  hoped,  because  of  the  authority 
contained  in  the  letter  of  December  24,  that  the  Department 
Commander  had  already  commenced  work.  "  Whether  you 
shall  have  done  so  or  not,"  continues  the  letter,  "  please,  on 
receiving  this,  proceed  with  all  possible  despatch,  using  your 
own  absolute  discretion  in  all  matters  which  may  not  carry 
you  away  from  the  conditions  stated  in  your  letters  to  me, 
nor  from  those  of  the  message  and  proclamation  of  Decem 
ber  8.  Frame  orders,  and  fix  times  and  places  for  this  and 
that,  according  to  your  own  judgment."  2 

This  letter  repeats  the  idea  of  subordination  to  General 
Banks  of  all  officials  in  his  department  holding  authority 
from  the  President,  and  stated  that  the  bearer  of  the  com 
munication,  Collector  Dennison,  of  New  Orleans,  understood 
the  views  of  the  commander  and  was  willing  to  assist  in 
carrying  them  out.  Before  Mr.  Dennison  arrived  in  New 
Orleans,  however,  General  Banks  had  already,  in  his  proc 
lamation  of  January  n,  1864,  fixed  a  date  for  the  election. 
This  action  was  determined,  said  the  Department  Commander, 
upon  ample  assurance  "  that  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  popula 
tion  desire  the  earliest  possible  restoration  of  Louisiana  to  the 
Union";  hen,ce  he  invited  "the  loyal  citizens  of  the  State 
qualified  to  vote  in  public  affairs  ...  to  assemble  in 
the  election  precincts  designated  by  law,  .  «'_  ..  on  the 
22d  of  February,  1864,  to  cast  their  votes  for  the  election  of 

1 H.  &  H.,  Vol.  VIII.  PP.  428-430. 
a  Ibid.,  p.  469. 


68     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

State  officers  herein  named,  vis.  Governor,  Lieutenant-Gov 
ernor,  Secretary  of  State,  Treasurer,  Attorney-General,  Su 
perintendent  of  Public  Instruction  and  Auditor  of  Public  Ac 
counts —  who  shall,  when  elected,  for  the  time  being,  and 
until  others  are  appointed  by  competent  authority,  constitute 
the  civil  government  of  the  State,  under  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  Louisiana,  except  so  much  of  said  constitution  and 
laws  as  recognize,  regulate  or  relate  to  slavery,  which  being 
inconsistent  with  the  present  condition  of  public  affairs,  and 
plainly  inapplicable  to  any  class  of  persons  now  existing 
within  its  limits,  must  be  suspended,  and  they  are  therefore 
and  hereby  declared  to  be  inoperative  and  void.  This  pro 
ceeding  is  not  intended  to  ignore  the  right  of  property  exist 
ing  prior  to  the  rebellion,  nor  to  preclude  the  claim  for  com 
pensation  of  loyal  citizens  for  losses  sustained  by  enlistment 
or  other  authorized  acts  of  Government."  1 

The  qualifications  of  voters  in  this  election  were  to  be  de 
termined  by  the  oath  of  allegiance  prescribed  by  the  Presi 
dent's  proclamation  together  with  the  condition  annexed 
to  the  elective  franchise  by  the  constitution  of  Louisiana. 
Officers  elected  were  to  .be  duly  installed  on  the  4th  of 
March. 

So  much  of  the  registration  effected  under  direction  of 
Governor  Shepley  and  the  several  Union  Associations  as 
was  not  inconsistent  with  the  proclamation  and  other  orders 
of  the  President  was  approved.  The  proclamation  further 
announced  that  arrangements  would  be  made  for  the  early 
election  of  members  of  Congress  for  the  State,  and,  that  the 
organic  law  might  be  made  to  conform  to  the  will  of  the  people 
and  harmonize  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  an  election  of  dele 
gates  to  a  convention  for  the  revision  of  the  constitution  would 
be  held  on  the  first  Monday  of  April  following. 

This   proclamation    declared,    among   other   things,    that 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  592. 


LOUISIANA  69 

The  fundamental  law  of  the  State  is  martial  law.  .  .  .  The  Gov 
ernment  is  subject  to  the  law  of  necessity,  and  must  consult  the  condi 
tion  of  things,  rather  than  the  preferences  of  men,  and  if  so  be  that  its 
purposes  are  just  and  its  measures  wise,  it  has  the  right  to  demand  that 
questions  of  personal  interest  and  opinion  shall  be  subordinate  to  the 
public  good.  When  the  national  existence  is  at  stake,  and  the  liberties  of 
the  people  in  peril,  faction  is  treason. 

The  methods  herein  proposed  submit  the  whole  question  of  government 
directly  to  the  people  —  first,  by  the  election  of  executive  officers,  faithful 
to  the  Union,  to  be  followed  by  a  loyal  representation  in  both  Houses  of 
Congress ;  and  then  by  a  convention  which  will  confirm  the  action  of  the 
people,  and  recognize  the  principles  of  freedom  in  the  organic  law.  This 
is  the  wish  of  the  President.1 

On  February  13,  nine  days  before  the  election,  General 
Banks  issued  an  order  relative  to  the  qualifications  of  electors. 
It  provided,  in  addition  to  the  declarations  on  that  subject  in 
his  proclamation,  that  Union  voters  expelled  from  their  homes 
by  the  public  enemy  might  cast  their  ballots  for  State  officers 
in  the  precincts  where  they  temporarily  resided  and  that  quali 
fied  electors  enlisted  in  the  army  or  navy  could  vote  in  those 
precincts  in  which  they  might  be  found  on  election  day.  If 
without  the  State,  then  commissioners  would  be  appointed 
to  receive  their  ballots  wherever  stationed,  returns  to  be 
made  to  General,  Shepley.2 

For  governor  three  candidates  were  nominated — B.  F. 
Flanders,  a  representative  of  the  Free  State  Committee; 
Michael  Hahn,  the  choice  of  those  who  approved  the  meas 
ures  of  General  Banks,  and  J.  Q.  A.  Fellows,  a  pro-slavery 
conservative  who  favored  "  the  Constitution  and  the  Union 
with  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  all  inviolate."  The 
friends  of  Hahn  would  deny  to  persons  of  African  descent 
the  privileges  of  citizenship,  whereas  the  supporters  of 
Flanders  generally  would  extend  to  them  such  rights  and 
immunities.3 

*  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  pp.  5Q2-593- 
3  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  476. 
'  Ibid. 


7o     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

On  Washington's  birthday,  as  announced  in  the  proclama 
tion  of  General  Banks,  an  election  was  held  in  seventeen 
parishes,  Hahn  receiving  6,183,  Fellows  2,996  and  Flanders 
2,232  votes,  a  total  of  11,411,  of  which  107  were  cast  by 
Louisiana  soldiers  stationed  at  Pensacola,  Florida.1 

Writing  February  25  to  the  President  General  Banks  says : 

The  election  of  the  22d  of  February  was  conducted  with  great  spirit 
and  propriety.  No  complaint  is  heard  from  any  quarter,  so  far  as  I 
know,  of  unfairness  or  undue  influence  on  the  part  of  the  officers  of  the 
Government.  At  some  of  the  strictly  military  posts  the  entire  vote  of 
the  Louisiana  men  was  for  Mr.  Flanders,  at  others  for  Mr.  Hahn,  ac 
cording  to  the  inclination  of  the  voters.  Every  voter  accepted  the  oath 
prescribed  by  your  proclamation  of  the  8th  of  December.  .  .  .  The 
ordinary  vote  of  the  State  has  been  less  than  forty  thousand.  The  pro 
portion  given  on  the  22d  of  February  is  nearly  equal  to  the  territory 
covered  by  our  arms.2 

The  friends  of  the  Free  State  General  Committee  in  a  pro 
test  pronounced  the  result  of  the  election  "  the  registration 
of  a  military  edict,"  and  "  worthy  of  no  respect  from  the 
representatives  and  Executive  of  the  nation."  To  the  ques 
tion  whether  this  election  had  in  the  meaning  of  the  Presi 
dent  reestablished  a  State  government  they  promptly  an 
swered  in  the  negative,  for  the  commanding  general  recog 
nized  the  Louisiana  constitution  of  1852  and  ordered  an  elec 
tion  under  it  in  which  the  votes  of  the  people  had  nothing  to 
do  with  reestablishing  government;  his  proclamation,  by 
recognizing  the  existence  of  the  old  constitution,  made  the 
reestablishment  beforehand  for  them.  The  Governor  and 
Lieutenant-Governor,  together  with  the  other  executive  offi 
cers  chosen,  did  not,  they  argued,  constitute  a  State  govern 
ment;  for  all  the  constitutions  of  Louisiana,  including  that 
of  1852,  described  the  government  as  consisting  of  three  de 
partments  :  executive,  legislative  and  judicial. 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  476. 

1  N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VIII.  pp.  432-433- 


LOUISIANA  71 

Though  not  avowed,  the  reason  of  Banks'  failure  to  order 
an  election  for  members  of  the  Legislature  was  plain,  for 
there  was  not,  they  claimed,  within  the  Union  lines  a  suffi 
cient  number  of  parishes  to  elect  a  majority  of  that  body,  and 
less  than  a  majority  was,  by  the  constitution,  not  a  quorum 
to  do  business;  so  that  no  officer  elected  could  be  legally 
paid,  for  that  could  be  done  by  only  a  legal  appropriation.  The 
same  constitution,  they  said  further,  provided  that  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  and  District  Courts,  as  well  as  justices  of  the 
peace,  should  be  elected  by  the  people.  The  present  incum 
bents  had  been  simply  appointed  by  General  Shepley.  Should 
Mr.  Hahn  under  pretence  of  being  civil  governor  undertake 
to  appoint  judicial  officers,  the  act  would  be  a  mere  usurpation. 

Not  only,  they  declared,  had  no  State  government  been 
established  by  this  election,  but  still  further,  the  proclama 
tion  of  the  President  had  not  in  the  matter  of  electors  been 
complied  with;  for  Article  XII.  of  the  constitution  of  1852 
says :  "  No  soldier,  seaman,  or  marine  in  the  army  or  navy 
of  the  United  States  .  .  .  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at 
any  election  in  this  State."  Yet,  continued  the  protestants, 
it  was  a  notorious  fact  that  the  general  commanding  per 
mitted  soldiers  recruited  in  Louisiana,  and  otherwise  quali 
fied,  to  vote,  and  that  many  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege. 
Again,  they  went  on  to  say,  the  Legislature  by  act  of  March 
20,  1856,  provided  for  the  appointment  in  New  Orleans  of 
a  register  of  voters  whose  office  should  be  closed  three  days 
before  an  election,  and  no  one  registered  during  that  period. 
Now  prior  to  the  late  election,  the  register  having  closed  his 
office  according  to  law,  orders  were  at  once  given  to  two 
other  officers,  recorders  of  the  city,  who  had  no  such  powers 
or  functions  by  law,  to  register  voters,  which  they  did  night 
and  day,  and  persons  so  registered  were  allowed  to  vote. 

Referring  to  the  declared  intention  of  General  Banks  to 
order  an  election  of  delegates  to  a  constitutional  conven- 


72     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

tion,  and  by  a  subsequent  order  fix  the  basis  of  representa 
tion,  the  number  of  delegates  and  the  details  of  the  elec 
tion,  they  said :  "  This  will  put  the  whole  matter  under  mili 
tary  control,  and  the  experience  of  the  last  election  shows  that 
only  such  a  convention  can  be  had  as  the  overshadowing  in 
fluence  of  the  military  authority  will  permit.  Under  an  elec 
tion  thus  ordered,  and  a  constitution  thus  established,  a  re 
publican  form  of  government  cannot  be  formed.  It  is  simply 
a  fraud  to  call  it  the  reestablishment  of  a  State  government 
In  these  circumstances,  the  only  course  left  to  the  truly  loyal 
citizens  of  Louisiana  is,  to  protest  against  the  recognition 
of  this  pretended  Government,  and  to  appeal  to  the  calm 
judgment  of  the  nation  to  procure  such  action  from  Congress 
as  will  forbid  military  commanders  to  usurp  the  powers 
which  belong  to  Congress  alone,  or  to  the  loyal  people  of 
Louisiana."  * 

But  neither  the  protest  nor  the  criticism  of  Free  State 
men  availed  to  arrest  the  march  of  events,  and  in  the  presence 
of  a  vast  multitude  Michael  Hahn,  who  had  received  a  ma 
jority  of  all  the  votes  cast,  was  inaugurated  Governor  amidst 
great  enthusiasm  on  March  4.  To  the  oath  prescribed  in 
the  amnesty  and  reconstruction  proclamation  of  December  8, 
1863,  given  above,  was  added  the  following: 

And  I  do  further  solemnly  swear,  that  I  am  qualified  according  to  the 
constitution  of  the  State  to  hold  the  office  to  which  I  have  been  elected, 
and  that  I  will  faithfully  and  impartially  discharge  and  perform  all  the 
duties  incumbent  on  me  as  Governor  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  according 
to  the  best  of  my  abilities  and  understanding,  agreeably  to  the  Consti 
tution  and  Laws  of  the  United  States,  and  in  support  of  and  according 
to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this  State,  so  far  as  they  are  consistent 
with  the  necessary  military  occupation  of  the  State  by  the  troops  of  the 
United  States  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  and  the  full  restora 
tion  of  the  authority  of  the  United  States." 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  pp.  593-594- 
*  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  477. 


LOUISIANA  73 

This  language  clearly  indicates  the  legal  theory  upon  which 
General  Banks  was  proceeding,  and  citizens  understood  that 
Mr.  Hahn  represented  a  popular  power  entirely  subordinate 
to  the  armed  occupation  of  the  State. 

On  March  13,  1864,  the  President  wrote  the  following 
private  letter  to  Governor  Hahn : 

I  congratulate  you  on  having  fixed  your  name  in  history  as  »the  first 
free-state  governor  of  Louisiana.  Now  you  are  about  to  have  a  conven 
tion,  which,  among  other  things,  will  probably  define  the  elective  fran 
chise.  I  barely  suggest  for  your  private  consideration  whether  some  of 
the  colored  people  may  not  be  let  in  —  as,  for  instance,  the  very  intelli 
gent,  and  especially  those  who  have  fought  gallantly  in  our  ranks.  They 
would  probably  help,  in  some  trying  time  to  come,  to  keep  the  jewel  of 
liberty  within  the  family  of  freedom.  But  this  is  only  a  suggestion,  not 
to  the  public,  but  to  you  alone.1 

Speaking  of  this  personal  note  Mr.  Elaine  says :  "  It  was 
perhaps  the  earliest  proposition  from  any  authentic  source 
to  endow  the  negro  with  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  was  an 
indirect  but  most  effective  answer  to  those  who  subsequently 
attempted  to  use  Mr.  Lincoln's  name  in  support  of  policies 
which  his  intimate  friends  instinctively  knew  would  be  ab 
horrent  to  his  unerring  sense  of  justice."2 

At  the  suggestion  of  General  Banks,  the  President  two  days 
later  invested  Mr.  Hahn  until  further  order  "  with  the  pow 
ers  exercised  hitherto  by  the  military  governor  of  Louisi 
ana."3 

From  the  sentiments  of  the  Free  State  party  it  requires 
little  insight  into  human  affairs  to  foretell  that  in  some 
manner  they  would  soon  be  found  in  opposition.  Their  can 
didate,  Mr.  B.  F.  Flanders,  who  received  fewer  votes  than 
either  of  his  competitors,  was  a  prominent  official  in  the 
Treasury  Department,  and  from  this  vantage  ground,  with- 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  496. 

*  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II.  p.  40. 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  498. 


74     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

out,  so  far  as  appears,  rebuke  from  Secretary  Chase,  began  to 
stir  up  in  Congress  a  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  new  govern 
ment  in  Louisiana.  Precisely  why  Mr.  Lincoln  decided  to 
take  into  his  own  hands  the  entire  subject  of  reconstruction 
may  be  collected  without  difficulty  from  what  has  already 
been  said;  but  that  this  determination  was  confirmed  by  his 
knowledge  of  an  alliance  between  the  Free  State  leaders  and 
the  "  Radicals  "  in  Congress  there  can  be  little  doubt. 

The  Department  Commander  in  a  general  order  gave  no 
tice  on  March  n  that  an  election  would  be  held  on  the  28th 
of  that  month  for  the  choice  of  delegates  to  a  State  convention 
to  meet  in  New  Orleans  "  for  the  revision  and  amendment  of 
the  constitution  of  Louisiana.'* 1  Five  days  later,  March  16, 
Governor  Hahn,  in  a  proclamation  to  the  sheriffs  and  other 
officers  concerned,  authorized  the  election  and  commanded 
them  to  give  due  notice  thereof  to  the  qualified  voters  of  the 
State  and  to  make  prompt  returns  to  the  Secretary  of  State  in 
New  Orleans.2 

Pursuant  to  these  notices  the  election  was  held  on  the  28th, 
and  resulted  in  the  choice  of  ninety-seven  members,  two  of 
whom  were  rejected  because  of  irregular  returns.  The  entire 
State  was  entitled  to  150  delegates.  The  parish  of  Orleans 
was  represented  by  sixty-three  members,  leaving  to  the 
country  parishes  but  thirty- two.  Of  -the  vote,  which  was  ex 
ceedingly  light,  no  return  appears  to  have  been  published. 
Because  of  their  recent  defeat  no  nominations  were  made  by 
the  Radicals,  and  this  fact,  together  with  heavy  rains  on  elec 
tion  day,  was  assigned  by  Governor  Hahn  in  a  letter  to  the 
President  as  an  explanation  of  the  meagre  vote.  The  Parish 
of  Ascension,  which  in  1860  had  a  population  of  3,940  whites, 
elected  her  delegates  by  61  votes;  Placquemines,  which  by  the 
same  census  had  2,529  white  inhabitants,  cast  246,  while  the 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  P-  47& 
1  Ibid. 


LOUISIANA  75 

single  delegate  from  Madison  was  chosen  by  only  twenty-eight 
electors.1 

General  Banks  informed  a  committee  of  Congress  that  all 
that  section  of  the  State  as  far  up  as  Point  Coupee  voted;  some 
men  from  the  Red  River  cast  their  ballots  at  Vidalia.  In  his 
statement  he  declared  that  "  The  city  of  New  Orleans  is  really 
the  State  of  Louisiana";  yet  at  that  time  it  contained  less 
than  half  the  population  of  the  State.2 

The  constitutional  convention,  which  assembled  April  6, 
1864,  was  organized  on  the  7th  with  E.  H.  Durell  as  presi 
dent,  and  after  a  session  of  more  than  two  and  a  half  months 
adjourned  July  25.  A  proclamation  of  the  Governor  ap 
pointed  the  5th  of  September  as  the  time  for  taking  a  vote  on 
the  work  of  the  convention.  The  result  was  6,836  for  the 
adoption,  and  1,556  for  the  rejection  of  the  constitution. 
Besides  these  there  were  a  number  of  electors  who  did  not 
vote  on  either  side  of  the  question.3 

Of  the  work  of  the  convention  General  Banks  spoke  as 
follows : 

In  a  State  which  held  331,726  slaves,  one  half  of  its  entire  population 
in  1860,  more  than  three  fourths  of  whom  had  been  specially  excepted 
from  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  and  were  still  held  de  jure  in 
bondage,  the  convention  declared  by  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  to  which 
the  State  would  have  been  entitled  if  every  delegate  had  been  present 
from  every  district  in  the  State : — 

Instantaneous,  universal,  uncompensated,  unconditional  emancipation 
of  slaves! 

It  prohibited  forever  the  recognition  of  property  in  man ! 

It  decreed  the  education  of  all  the  children,  without  distinction  of  race 
or  color ! 

It  directs  all  men,  white  or  black,  to  be  enrolled  as  soldiers  for  the 
public  defence ! 

It  makes  all  men  equal  before  the  law ! 

It  compels,  by  its  regenerating  spirit,  the  ultimate  recognition  of  all 
the  rights  which  national  authority  can  confer  upon  an  oppressed  race ! 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  pp.  478-479. 

2  Ibid.    8  Ibid.,  p.  479- 


76     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

It  wisely  recognizes  for  the  first  time  in  constitutional  history,  the  in 
terest  of  daily  labor  as  an  element  of  power  entitled  to  the  protection  of 
the  State.1 

At  the  same  election,  that  of  September  5,  the  following 
persons  were  chosen  Representatives  in  Congress:  M.  F. 
Bonzano,  A.  P.  Field,  W.  D.  Mann,  T.  M.  Wells  and  R.  W. 
Taliaferro.  A  Legislature  was  elected  at  the  same  time,  the 
members  of  which  were  almost  entirely  in  favor  of  a  free 
State,  and  by  this  body  seven  electors  of  President  and  Vice- 
President  were  appointed.  On  October  loth  two  United 
States  Senators  were  elected  —  R.  King  Cutler  for  the  unex- 
pired  term  ending  March  4,  1867,  and  Charles  Smith  for  the 
vacancy  created  by  the  resignation  of  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  and 
ending  March  4,  i865.2 

It  is  matter  of  familiar  history  that  the  State  government 
thus  organized  was  never  recognized  by  Congress.  The  ques 
tion  was  presented  to  that  body  December  5,  1864,  at  the 
opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress, 
when  the  claimants  above  named  appeared  in  Washington 
applying  for  admission  to  seats,  and  again  in  January  and 
February,  1865,  upon  consideration  of  a  joint  resolution  de 
claring  certain  States  not  entitled  to  representation  in  the 
Electoral  College.  As  in  the  case  of  Tennessee,  however,  the 
vote  offered  by  Louisiana  was  not  counted. 

The  agency  of  the  President  in  setting  up  this  civil  govern 
ment,  and  the  successive  steps  in  its  accomplishment  have  been 
related  with  some  degree  of  minuteness,  so  that  the  nature  of 
the  controversy  between  the  Executive  and  the  Legislative 
branches  of  the  Government  may  be  better  understood. 
Whether  Mr.  Lincoln  exceeded  his  constitutional  authority 
will  be  considered  when  an  account  has  been  presented  of  the 
result  of  his  efforts  to  restore  civil  government  in  the  States 
where  Federal  authority  had  been  overthrown. 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  479.  2  Ibid. 


Ill 

ARKANSAS 

THE  people  of  northern  Arkansas  were  strongly  at 
tached  to  the  Union,  and  until  December  20,  1860, 
when  a  commissioner  from  Alabama  addressed  its 
Legislature,  no  secession  movement  took  place  within  the  State. 
Her  geographical  position  classed  her  with  the  Western,  her 
productions  bound  up  her  interests  with  the  Southern,  States.1 
As  late  as  January  5,  1861,  resolutions  opposing  separate  ac 
tion  were  adopted  almost  unanimously  by  the  largest  meeting 
ever  held  at  Van  Buren.  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  was  not  then 
deemed  a  sufficient  cause  to  dissolve  the  Union.  Citizens  of 
every  party  favored  all  honorable  efforts  for  its  preservation, 
and  demonstrations  to  the  contrary  were  regarded  as  the  work 
of  only  an  extreme  and  inconsiderable  faction.2  So  rapid, 
however,  was  the  succession  of  events  that  scarcely  two  weeks 
had  elapsed  when  she  exhibited  signs  of  resting  uneasily  in 
the  Union;  for  on  January  16  a  bill  submitting  to  popular 
vote  the  question  of  holding  a  convention  passed  the  Legisla 
ture.3  At  the  election  of  delegates  to  this  assembly  23,626 
votes  were  cast  for  the  Union,  against  17,927  for  the  secession, 
candidates.  Though  this  convention,  which  assembled  March 
4,  was  organized  by  the  choice  of  Union  officers,  the  proposal 
to  hold  it  had  been  carried  by  a  majority  of  1 1,586  in  the  elec 
tion  of  February  18.  While  secession  was  strongly  urged,  a 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  22. 

'Ibid. 

8  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  4. 

77 


78     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

conditional  ordinance  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  39  to  35.1 
At  Van  Buren  and  Fort  Smith  salutes  of  thirty-nine  guns 
were  fired  in  honor  of  the  loyal  members.  The  inaugural  of 
President  Lincoln,  received  two  days  after  organizing,  pro 
duced  a  somewhat  unfavorable  impression.  On  the  I7th  an 
ordinance,  reported  by  a  self-constituted  committee  of  seven 
secessionists  and  seven  cooperationists,  was  unanimously 
adopted.2  This  provided  for  an  election  on  the  first  Monday 
of  August,  when  the  qualified  voters  in  the  State  could  cast 
their  ballots  either  for  "  secession  "  or  "  /cooperation."  The 
result,  though  not  wholly  satisfactory  to  either  party,  afforded 
time  for  deliberation. 

Tidings  of  the  fall  of  Sumter,  together  with  the  President's 
proclamation  and  a  requisition  for  troops  from  the  Secretary 
of  War,  interrupted  the  brief  interval  of  repose  following  the 
adjournment  of  the  convention.  In  these  circumstances  the 
State  was  compelled  to  make  a  choice  of  sides.  Governor 
Rector's  reply,  April  22,  to  this  requisition  shows  him  to  have 
been  ardently  in  favor  of  disunion;  the  president  of  the  con 
vention,  concurring  in  this  sentiment,  issued  a  call  for  that 
body  to  reassemble  May  6,  when  an  ordinance  of  secession 
was  promptly  passed  with  but  one  dissenting  vote.  8  By  a 
resolution  the  convention  authorized  the  Governor  to  call  out, 
if  necessary,  60,000  men,  and  ordered  the  issue  of  $2,000,000 
in  bonds.  Another  ordinance  confiscated  debts  due  to  persons 
in  non-slaveholding  States.4 

The  first  military  movement,  after  the  ordinance  of  seces 
sion  had  been  carried,  aimed  to  secure  Federal  property  within 
the  State,  and  their  value  to  the  South  singled  out  for  seizure 
the  arsenals  at  Fort  Smith  and  Little  Rock.  The  latter  city 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  22. 

'Ibid. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  23. 

4  Ibid.,  pp.  23-24. 


ARKANSAS  79 

on  February  5  was  thrown  into  a  great  turmoil  of  confusion 
and  excitement  by  the  unexpected  arrival  of  a  body  of  troops 
from  Helena  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  taking  the  arsenal; 
more  soldiers  arrived  during  that  and  the  succeeding  day  until 
about  400  had  assembled.  Though  the  Governor,  in  response 
to  their  inquiry,  informed  the  city  council  that  this  force  was 
not  there  by  his  order,  the  troops  believed  they  were  acting 
under  his  command;  at  any  rate  they  came  to  take  the  arsenal 
and  were  not  to  be  diverted  from  their  object.  To  prevent  a 
collision,  which  must  have  followed  a  refusal  of  the  command 
ing  officer  to  surrender  to  a  body  of  men  disavowed  by  their 
Governor,  the  latter  was  easily  persuaded  to  assume  the  re 
sponsibility  of  the  movement  and  he  consented  to  demand  its 
surrender  in  the  name  of  the  State.  This  demand  Captain 
Totten  asked  until  three  o'clock  the  next  day  to  consider ;  then 
he  made  known  his  readiness  to  evacuate  the  arsenal,  which 
about  noon  of  the  following  day  was  delivered  to  the  State 
authorities.1 

The  delegates  of  Arkansas  on  May  18  took  their  seats  in 
the  Confederate  Congress.2  The  convention,  it  will  be  ob 
served,  assumed  at  the  outset  the  functions  of  a  law-making 
body,  and,  because  of  further  extending  its  authority  by  the 
appointment  of  a  Military  Board,  soon  came  into  conflict  with 
both  the  Governor  and  the  Legislature.  When  the  conven 
tion  empowered  the  former  to  call  out,  if  necessary,  60,000 
men  it  divided  the  State  into  two  districts,  an  eastern  and  a 
western.  General  Bradley  was  elected  to  the  command  of  the 
former  and  General  Pearce,  late  of  the  United  States  Army, 
to  that  of  the  latter  division.  Before  General  McCulloch, 
stationed  in  the  Indian  Territory,  could  assume  any  offensive 
operations  the  Federal  General,  Lyon,  in  pursuit  of  Jackson, 
approached  the  southern  boundary  of  Missouri;  upon  this 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  24, 
a  Ibid. 


80     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  Military  Board  called  out  ten  regiments  for  defence.  On 
June  21  it  despatched  to  Richmond  a  messenger  who  proposed 
to  transfer  to-  the  Confederate  Government  all  the  State 
troops  with  their  arms  making,  however,  a  condition  prece 
dent  :  they  were  to  be  employed  for  the  protection  of  Arkan 
sas;  but  as  the  Secretary  of  State  could  make  no  promise  as 
to  their  future  disposition  the  transfer  was  not  then  effected.1 
On  July  4  a  second  effort  was  made  by  a  member  of  the  Mili 
tary  Board  who  visited  General  Hardee,  with  whom  an  ar 
rangement  was  completed  by  which  a  vote  should  be  taken 
among  the  troops.  If  a  majority  of  each  company  consented, 
those  so  consenting  were  to  be  turned  over  as  a  company.  If 
a  majority  declined,  the  company  was  to  be  disbanded  alto 
gether.  One  entire  company  was  thus  mustered  out,  and 
from  various  motives  two  or  three  hundred  soldiers  returned 
home.  This  was  from  the  eastern  division.  The  western 
was  not  so  easily  disposed  of.  The  Military  Board  after  the 
battle  of  Springfield  directed  General  Pearce  to  turn  over  his 
force  to  Hardee,  who  became  angry  when  the  agent  proposed 
to  submit  the  question  of  transfer,  and  refused  to  allow  it  to 
be  done;  this  insubordinate  conduct  he  followed  up  by  writing 
an  abusive  .letter  to  the  Board.  Pearce  then  separated  his 
troops  from  McCulloch's  command  and  marched  them  back 
to  Arkansas,  where  they  were  informally  disbanded  and  sent 
home.  Fearing  such  a  result,  the  Board  had  ordered  General 
Pearce  to  do  nothing  further  in  the  matter,  but  their  de 
spatches  arrived  too  late.2 

Governor  Rector's  account  shows  Arkansas  troops,  claimed 
to  be  22,000  in  number,  to  have  been  at  that  time  in  a  state  of 
complete  demoralization.3  The  Germans  and  the  Irish,  as 
well  as  their  descendants,  showing  little  inclination  to  enlist, 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  24. 
1  Ibid. 
•  Ibid. 


ARKANSAS  81 

the  Governor  ascribed  their  indifference  to  a  want  of  oppor 
tunity  for  promotion  in  the  service.  If  this  was  not  the  cause, 
then,  he  thought,  authority  should  be  given  to  draft  a  regi 
ment  of  each  race.1 

More  than  a  third  of  the  voting  population  was  in  the  field, 
and  as  late  as  October  they  had  received  no  pay  except  Ar 
kansas  war  bonds,  the  worthlessness  of  which  occasioned 
much  murmuring.  This  discontent  was  heightened  some 
what  by  the  poor  equipment  of  the  regiments,  many  soldiers 
being  without  blankets  or  shoes.2  There  were  other  symp 
toms  of  unrest  within  the  State.  On  the  charge  of  attempted 
insurrection  two  negro  men  and  a  girl  were  hanged  in  Mon 
roe  County. 

All  this  occasioned  much  uneasiness,  but  the  chief  cause  of 
alarm  was  the  Union  sentiment  known  to  exist  in  the  State. 
In  October  twenty-seven  persons  were  brought  to  Little  Rock 
as  members  of  a  secret  Union  organization  in  Van  Buren 
County  and  placed  in  jail  to  await  a  civil  trial.  Many  others 
also  were  taken  about  this  time,  and  it  was  estimated  that  the 
"  Peace  and  Constitutional  Society  "  numbered  I  700  mem 
bers  in  Arkansas.3 

The  activity  of  Federal  armies  in  the  West  excited  so  much 
apprehension  that  Governor  Rector  on  the  i8th  of  February, 
by  proclamation,  called  into  immediate  service  every  man  in 
the  State  subject  to  military  duty.4  A  Confederate  force 
under  Price  was  driven  into  Arkansas  by  General  Curtis  on 
the  same  day,  and  within  a  week  the  commandant  at  Poca- 
hontas  issued  an  appeal  to  every  man  "  to  turn  out  promptly* 
shoulder  his  musket,  and  drive  the  vandals  from  the  State." 
The  Richmond  Government  being  unable  to  assist  Arkansas, 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  25. 

*  Ibid. 

1  Ibid. 

4  Ibid.,  1862,  p.  ii. 


82      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

she  was  forced  to  rely  upon  her  own  resources  and  such  aid 
as  might  be  obtained  from  Missouri,  the  Indian  Territory  and 
Texas.1 

Disaster  and  a  conviction  of  neglect  led  the  Governor  in 
May,  in  an  address  to  the  people,  to  express  his  indignation 
and  threaten  to  secede  from  secession.  He  said : 

If  the  arteries  of  the  Confederate  heart  do  not  permeate  beyond  the 
east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  let  southern  Missourians,  Arkansians, 
Texans  and  the  great  West  know  it  and  prepare  for  the  future.  Arkan 
sas  lost,  abandoned,  subjugated  is  not  Arkansas  as  she  entered  the  Con 
federate  Government.  Nor  will  she  remain  Arkansas,  a  Confederate 
State,  desolated  as  a  wilderness.  Her  children,  fleeing  from  the  wrath 
to  come,  will  build  them  a  new  ark,  and  launch  it  on  new  waters,  seeking 
a  haven  somewhere  of  equality,  safety  and  rest.* 

After  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge  General  Curtis  moved  to 
White  River,  and  on  May  i  occupied  Batesville,  where  he 
witnessed  many  demonstrations  of  attachment  to  the  Union. 
Judges  of  courts,  clergymen  and  other  leading  citizens  came 
forward  and  voluntarily  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
United  States.  A  threatened  advance  of  the  Union  forces 
upon  Little  Rock  created  the  greatest  excitement  there,  and  the 
Governor  by  proclamation  ordered  the  militia  to  repair  imme 
diately  to  its  defence;  but  not  finding  himself  sufficiently  sup 
ported  he  fled.3  The  concentration  at  Corinth  of  all  available 
Confederate  strength  was  the  cause  of  the  weakness  of  Arkan 
sas  at  this  time.  Ten  regiments  had  also  been  withdrawn  from 
the  army  of  General  Curtis  to  reenforce  the  Federal  troops  in 
Mississippi.  This  left  him  in  no  condition  to  march  upon  the 
State  capital,  and  for  the  time  it  was  saved.  Twelve  thousand 
poorly  equipped  men  had  assembled  there  in  response  to  the 
appeal  of  Governor  Rector. 

After  the  occupation  of  Helena  by  Federal  troops  Mr.  Lin 
coln  appointed  John  S.  Phelps,  of  Missouri,  military  govern- 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1862,  p.  II. 

'Ibid. 

1  Ibid. 


ARKANSAS  83 

or.1  On  August  19,  1862,  he  left  St.  Louis  for  Helena;  but 
as  the  contemplated  movement  was  not  then  made  his  office 
was  of  little  importance.  From  the  Union  refugees  at  that 
point  two  regiments  of  Arkansas  men  were  organized.  The 
fall  of  Vicksburg  in  July,  1863,  however,  enabled  the  Union 
army  to  assume  offensive  operations,  and  the  summer  had  not 
greatly  advanced  before  a  strong  column  was  moving  on 
Little  Rock,  the  capture  of  which,  September  10,  1863,  was  a 
fatal  blow  to  Confederate  authority  throughout  the  State. 

Amidst  all  its  distresses  the  northern  section  of  Arkansas 
had  maintained  its  loyalty.  Recent  reverses  to  Confederate 
arms  encouraged  desertion  from  their  ranks,  Union  sympa 
thizers  became  active,  and  movements  begun  by  them  were 
joined  by  numbers  who  now  regarded  the  Confederate  cause 
as  lost.  Many, .  however,  fearing  a  restoration  of  that  au 
thority,  hesitated  to  identify  themselves  with  the  more  pro 
nounced  loyalists.  A  newspaper  favorable  to  the  General 
Government  was  established  at  the  capital.  Meetings  were 
held,  and  resolutions  pledging  unconditional  support  of  the 
Union  cause  adopted.  Citizens,  both  white  and  black,  were 
organized,  and  by  December,  1863,  eight  regiments  of  Arkan 
sas  troops  had  enlisted  in  the  Federal  service. 2 

A  still  more  encouraging  symptom  was  the  return  of  emi 
nent  persons  who  now  came  forward  to  advocate  the  Union 
cause.  Prominent  among  these  was  Brigadier-General  E.  W. 
Gantt,  of  the  Confederate  army,  recently  a  prisoner  of  war 
and  pardoned  under  the  Amnesty  Proclamation  of  the  Presi 
dent.  Toward  the  close  of  1863  he  thus  describes  the  feeling 
of  the  people : 

The  Union  sentiment  is  manifesting  itself  on  all  sides  and  by  every  in 
dication  —  in  Union  meetings  —  in  desertions  from  the  Confederate  army 
—  in  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  unsolicited  —  in  organizing  for  home 

1  N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VI.  p.  346. 
'Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  15. 


84       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

defence,  and  enlisting  in  the  Federal  army.  Old  flags  that  have  been  hid 
in  the  crevices  of  rocks,  and  been  worshipped  by  our  mountain  people  as 
holy  relics,  are  flung  to  the  breeze,  and  followed  to  the  Union  army  with 
an  enthusiasm  that  beggars  all  description.  The  little  county  of  Perry, 
that  votes  only  about  600,  and  which  has  been  turned  wrong  side  out  in 
search  of  conscripts  by  Hindman  and  his  fellow-murderers  and  oppres 
sors,  with  their  retinue  of  salaried  gentlemen  and  negro  boys,  sent  down 
a  company  of  ninety-four  men.  Where  they  came  from,  and  how  they 
kept  their  old  flag  during  these  three  years  of  terror,  persecution  and 
plunder,  I  can't  tell.  But  they  were  the  proudest-looking  set  of  men  I 
ever  saw,  and  full  of  fight.1 

The  retreat  of  General  Banks  from  the  Red  River  country 
changed  greatly  the  aspect  of  Federal  affairs  in  Arkansas, 
for  it  allowed  all  the  Confederate  forces  in  the  vicinity  to 
concentrate  against  the  small  army  of  General  Steel e,  com 
pelling  him  to  act  on  the  defensive  at  Little  Rock.  The 
State  coming  once  more  to  a  considerable  extent  under  Con 
federate  control,  loyalists  became  scarce  and  gradually  lost 
energy  and  hope. 

Local  reverses,  however,  were  not  allowed  to  interrupt  the 
comprehensive  policy  of  the  President,  and  early  in  1864  prep 
arations  were  made  to  reorganize  the  State  government. 
This  movement,  like  those  in  Tennessee  and  Louisiana,  was 
based  upon  the  Amnesty  and  Reconstruction  Proclamation  of 
December  8,  1863.  Even  before  this  step  had  been  taken 
the  President  was  already  moulding  the  diverse  elements  into 
a  power  that  would  ultimately  undermine  Confederate  influ 
ence  in  the  State.  In  the  preceding  summer,  July  31,  1863, 
he  had  written  General  S.  A.  Hurlbut : 

I  understand  that  Senator  Sebastian,  of  Arkansas,  thinks  of  offering  to 
resume  his  place  in  the  Senate.  Of  course  the  Senate,  and  not  I,  would 
decide  whether  to  admit  or  reject  him.  Still  I  should  feel  great  interest 
in  the  question.  It  may  be  so  presented  as  to  be  one  of  the  very  great 
est  national  importance;  and  it  may  be  otherwise  so  presented  as  to  be 
of  no  more  than  temporary  personal  consequence  to  him. 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  p.  15. 


ARKANSAS  85 

The  emancipation  proclamation  applies  to  Arkansas.  ...  I  think 
I  shall  not  retract  or  repudiate  it.  Those  who  shall  have  tasted  actual 
freedom  I  believe  can  never  be  slaves  or  quasi-slaves  again.  For  the 
rest,  I  believe  some  plan  substantially  being  gradual  emancipation  would 
be  better  for  both  white  and  black.  The  Missouri  plan,  recently  adopted, 
I  do  not  object  to  on  account  of  the  time  for  ending  the  institution;  but 
I  am  sorry  the  beginning  should  have  been  postponed  for  seven  years, 
leaving  all  that  time  to  agitate  for  the  repeal  of  the  whole  thing.  It 
should  begin  at  once,  giving  at  least  the  new-born  a  vested  interest  in 
freedom  which  could  not  be  taken  away.  If  Senator  Sebastian  could 
come  with  something  of  this  sort  from  Arkansas,  I,  at  least,  should  take 
great  interest  in  his  case;  and  I  believe  a  single  individual  will  have 
scarcely  done  the  world  so  great  a  service.  See  him,  if  you  can,  and  read 
this  to  him ;  but  charge  him  to  not  make  it  public  for  the  present.1 

Union  officers  in  the  West  were  urged  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
October,  1862,  to  assist  and  encourage  repentant  rebel  com 
munities  to  elect  both  State  officers  and  members  of  Con 
gress.2  As  this  involved  a  recognition  of  existing  govern 
ments  it  need  scarcely  be  observed  that  the  march  of  events 
forced  the  President  later  to  occupy  somewhat  different 
ground;  nor  is  it  more  necessary  to  add,  that  to  his  main  pur 
pose,  to  undermine  secession  and  restore  the  Union,  he  ad 
hered  inflexibly.  With  this  fundamental  object  all  his  acts 
harmonize. 

At  the  time  of  her  secession,  W.  K.  Sebastian  represented 
Arkansas  in  the  United  States  Senate  and  abandoned  his  seat ; 
he  was  now  ready  to  assist  in  restoring  his  State  to  her  old 
status.  Of  these  evidences  of  disintegration  in  Confederate 
interests  within  the  State  the  President  was  very  exactly  in 
formed,  and  it  was  because  of  his  conviction  that  many  per 
sons  hitherto  supporting  that  cause  were  either  wavering  in 
their  allegiance  or  had  become  hostile  to  secession  that  he 
wrote,  January  5,  1864,  to  General  Steele: 

I  wish  to  afford  the  people  of  Arkansas  an  opportunity  of  taking  the 
oath  prescribed  in  the  proclamation  of  December  8,  1863,  preparatory  to 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  379. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  247. 


86       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

reorganizing  a  State  Government  there.  Accordingly  I  send  you  by  Gen 
eral  Kimball  some  blank  books  and  other  blanks,  the  manner  of  using 
which  will,  in  the  main,  be  suggested  by  an  inspection  of  them ;  and  Gen 
eral  Kimball  will  add  some  verbal  explanations. 

Please  make  a  trial  of  the  matter  immediately  at  such  points  as  you  may 
think  likely  to  give  success.  I  suppose  Helena  and  Little  Rock  are  two 
of  them.  Detail  any  officer  you  may  see  fit  to  take  charge  of  the  subject 
at  each  point ;  and  which  officer,  it  may  be  assumed,  will  have  authority 
to  administer  the  oath.  These  books,  of  course,  are  intended  to  be  perma 
nent  records.  Report  to  me  on  the  subject.1 

A  week  had  scarcely  elapsed  when  Mr.  Lincoln  approved 
the  suggestions  of  General  Banks  relative  to  reinaugurating  a 
civil  government  for  Louisiana,  and,  doubtless,  he  knew  no 
reason  why  similar  work  might  not  be  going  on  simultane 
ously  in  Arkansas;  therefore  he  repeated  to  General  Steele 
what  in  substance  he  had  already  communicated  to  the 
Federal  commander  of  the  Department  of  the  Gulf.  His  in 
structions,  dated  January  20,  1864,  and  quoted  below,  are 
self-explanatory,  and  in  no  important  particular  differ  from 
the  Louisiana  Plan : 

Sundry  citizens  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  petition  me  that  an  election 
may  be  held  in  that  State,  at  which  to  elect  a  governor  thereof;  .  .  . 
that  it  be  assumed  at  said  election  and  thenceforward  that  the  constitu 
tion  and  laws  of  the  State,  as  before  the  rebellion,  are  in  full  force,  except 
that  the  constitution  is  so  modified  as  to  declare  that  "  there  shall  be 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  in  the  punishment  for 
crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted ;  but  the  General 
Assembly  may  make  such  provision  for  the  free  people  as  shall  recognize 
and  declare  their  permanent  freedom,  provide  for  their  education,  and 
which  may  yet  be  consistent,  as  a  temporary  arrangement,  with  their 
present  condition  as  a  laboring,  landless,  and  homeless  class ;  "  and  also 
except  that  all  now  existing  laws  in  relation  to  slaves  are  inoperative  and 
void ;  that  said  election  to  be  held  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  March  next 
at  all  the  usual  voting  places  of  the  State,  or  all  such  as  voters  may  attend 
for  that  purpose ;  that  the  voters  attending  at  each  place  at  8  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  said  day,  may  choose  judges  and  clerks  of  election  for  that 
place;  that  all  persons  qualified  by  said  constitution  and  laws,  and  tak 
ing  the  oath  prescribed  in  the  President's  proclamation  of  December  the 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  467. 


ARKANSAS  87 

x 

8th,  1863,  either  before  or  at  the  election,  and  none  others,  may  be  voters, 
provided  that  persons  having  the  qualifications  aforesaid,  and  being  in 
the  volunteer  military  service  of  the  United  States,  may  vote  once  wher 
ever  they  may  be  at  voting  places;  that  each  set  of  judges  and  clerks  may 
make  return  directly  to  you  on  or  before  the  eleventh  day  of  April  next ; 
that  in  all  other  respects  said  election  may  be  conducted  according  to  said 
modified  constitution  and  laws ;  that  on  receipt  of  said  returns,  you  count 
said  votes,  and  that  if  the  number  shall  reach  or  exceed  five  thousand  four 
hundred  and  six,  you  canvass  said  votes  and  ascertain  who  shall  thereby 
appear  to  have  been  elected  governor ;  and  that  on  the  eighteenth  day  of 
April  next,  the  person  so  appearing  to  have  been  elected,  and  appearing  be 
fore  you  at  Little  Rock  to  have,  by  you,  administered  to  him  an  oath  to 
support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  said  modified  constitu 
tion  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  and  actually  taking  said  oath,  be,  by  you, 
declared  qualified,  and  be  enjoined  to  immediately  enter  upon  the  duties 
of  the  oifice  of  governor  of  said  State ;  and  that  you  thereupon  declare 
the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  to  have  been  modified  and 
amended  as  aforesaid  by  the  action  of  the  people  as  aforesaid. 

You  will  please  order  an  election  immediately,  and  perform  the  other 
parts  assigned  you,  with  necessary  incidentals,  all  according  to  the  fore 
going.1 

By  discussion  and  organization  the  elements  opposed  to 
the  Richmond  Government  aroused  so  much  enthusiasm  that 
Unionists  anticipated  the  wishes  of  the  President  by  meeting, 
January  8,  1864,  in  convention  at  Little  Rock.  This  as 
sembly,  composed  of  forty-four  delegates  representing,  as 
they  claimed,  twenty-two  of  the  fifty-four  counties  in  the 
State,  was  made  up  of  members  elected  at  various  mass  meet 
ings  by  very  meagre  votes.  This  at  least  was  an  objection 
then  urged  by  those  who  were  adverse  to  the  purposes  of  the 
convention.  They  further  stated  that  many  of  the  counties 
represented  were  without  the  Federal  military  lines.  It  was 
admitted  that  if  these  counties  lay  beyond  Union  lines  neither 
were  they  occupied  by  Confederate  forces,  and  that  gen 
erally  the  delegates  were  gentlemen  of  character  and  patriot 
ism.2 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  472-473- 

a  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  29 ;  Hough's  American  Constitutions,  Vol.  II.  p.  81. 


88       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

In  a  published  address  the  convention  stated  frankly : 

We  found  after  remaining  at  Little  Rock  about  a  week,  under  a  tem 
porary  organization,  that  delegates  were  present  from  twenty-two  coun 
ties,  elected  by  the  people,  and  that  six  other  counties  had  held  elections, 
and  that  their  representatives  were  looked  for  daily.  We  then  organized 
the  Convention  permanently,  and  determined  that  while  we  could  not 
properly  claim  to  be  the  people  of  Arkansas  in  Convention  assembled, 
with  full  and  final  authority  to  adopt  a  constitution,  yet,  being  the  repre 
sentatives,  by  election,  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  State,  and  under 
standing,  as  we  believed,  the  sentiment  of  nearly  all  our  citizens  who  de 
sire  the  immediate  benefits  of  a  government  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  we  also  determined  to  present  a  constitution  and  plan  of 
organization,  which,  if  adopted  by  them,  becomes  at  once  their  act  as 
effectually  as  if  every  county  in  the  State  had  been  represented  in  the  Con 
vention.  * 

An  amended  constitution  was  adopted  by  this  convention 
on  January  22.  By  it  the  act  of  secession  was  declared  null 
and  void;  slavery  was  abolished  immediately  and  uncondi 
tionally,  and  the  Confederate  debt  wholly  repudiated.2  These 
important  changes  in  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State  indi 
cate  the  sentiments  of  the  delegates.  Isaac  Murphy  was  ap 
pointed  Provisional  Governor;  C.  C.  Bliss,  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor  and  R.  T.  J.  White,  Secretary  of  State.  These  officers 
were  inaugurated  on  the  same  day  that  the  convention  adopted 
the  constitution;  this  by  its  schedule  was  to  be  submitted  to 
a  popular  vote  at  an  election  to  be  held  March  14,  when  State 
officers  and  Representatives  in  Congress  would  also  be 
chosen.3 

Ignorant  that  the  movement  to  restore  a  civil  government 
had  proceeded  so  far,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  sent  his  instructions 
to  General  Steele.  As  these  had  been  carefully  considered 
it  was  feared  the  work  of  the  convention  would  differ  in  some 
essential  particular  from  the  plan  outlined  for  the  Federal 

1  Quoted  in  N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  414. 

*  Hough's  Amer.  Cons.,  Vol.  II.  p.  81. 

*  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  29. 


ARKANSAS  89 

commander.     To  prevent  such  a  consequence  the  President 
wrote  General  Steele  again  on  January  27  as  follows: 

I  have  addressed  a  letter  to  you  and  put  it  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Gantt 
and  other  Arkansas  gentlemen,  containing  a  program  for  an  election  in 
that  State.  This  letter  will  be  handed  you  by  some  of  these  gentlemen. 
Since  writing  it,  I  see  that  a  Convention  in  Arkansas  having  the  same  gen 
eral  object,  has  taken  some  action,  which  I  am  afraid  may  clash  somewhat 
with  my  program.  I  therefore  can  do  no  better  than  to  ask  you  to  see 
Mr.  Gantt  immediately  on  his  return,  and  with  him  do  what  you  and  he 
may  deem  necessary  to  harmonize  the  two  plans  into  one,  and  then  put 
it  through  with  all  possible  vigor.  Be  sure  to  retain  the  free-State  Consti 
tutional  provision  in  some  unquestionable  form  and  you  and  he  can  fix 
the  rest.  The  points  I  have  made  in  the  program  have  been  well  con 
sidered.  Take  hold  with  an  honest  heart  and  a  strong  hand.  Do  not  let 
any  questionable  man  control  or  influence  you.1 

The  President's  interest  in  the  proceedings  of  the  con 
vention  and  his  anxiety  about  the  outcome  of  its  delibera 
tions  appear  in  a  letter  to  General  Steele  written  three  days 
after  the  above. 2  So  favorable  were  his  impressions  of  the 
progress  reported  that  he  believed  the  best  his  subordinate 
could  do  "would  be  to  help  them  on  their  own  plan";  of 
this,  however,  General  Steele,  who  was  on  the  ground,  was  to 
be  the  judge.  To  Governor  Murphy  he  telegraphed,  February 
6,  that  his  order  concerning  an  election  was  made  in  ignor 
ance  of  any  action  which  the  convention  might  take;  also 
that  his  subsequent  communication  to  General  Steele  directed 
that  officer  to  assist,  not  to  hinder,  the  delegates.3  General 
Thayer  also  was  informed  that  the  apparent  conflict  between 
the  President  and  the  convention  was  altogether  accidental.4 
On  February  17,  Mr.  Lincoln  explained  the  situation  more 
fully  to  William  M.  Fishback : 

When  I  fixed  a  plan  for  an  election  in  Arkansas  I  did  it  in  ignorance 
that  your  convention  was  doing  the  same  work.  Since  I  learned  the 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  475. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  476. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  479- 
*  Ibid.,  p.  482. 


90      LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

latter  fact  I  have  been  constantly  trying  to  yield  my  plan  to  them.  I  have 
sent  two  letters  to  General  Steele,  and  three  or  four  despatches  to  you 
and  others,  saying  that  he,  General  Steele,  must  be  master,  but  that  it 
will  probably  be  best  for  him  to  merely  help  the  convention  on  its  own 
plan.  Some  single  mind  must  be  master,  else  there  will  be  no  agreement 
in  anything,  and  General  Steele,  commanding  the  military  and  being  on 
the  ground,  is  the  best  man  to  be  that  master.  Even  now  citizens  are 
telegraphing  me  to  postpone  the  election  to  a  later  day  than  either  that 
fixed  by  the  convention  or  by  me.  This  discord  must  be  silenced.1 

The  President  evidently  had  learned  something  from  his 
recent  experience  with  his  friends  and  subordinates  in  Louisi 
ana.  General  Steele  from  his  headquarters  at  Little  Rock 
issued  on  February  29  the  following  address  to  the  people  of 
Arkansas : 

The  convention  of  your  citizens,  held  at  Little  Rock  during  the  last 
month  [says  this  proclamation],  has  adopted  a  constitution  and  submitted 
it  to  you  for  your  approval  or  rejection.  That  constitution  is  based  upon 
the  principles  of  freedom,  and  it  is  for  you  now  to  say,  by  your  volun 
tary  and  unbiased  action,  whether  it  shall  be  your  fundamental  law. 
While  it  may  have  defects,  in  the  main  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  views 
of  that  portion  of  the  people  who  have  been  resisting  the  fratricidal  at 
tempts  which  have  been  made  during  the  last  three  years.  The  conven 
tion  has  fixed  the  I4th  day  of  March  next  on  which  to  decide  this  great 
question,  and  the  General  commanding  is  only  following  the  instruc 
tions  of  the  Government  when  he  says  to  you  that  every  facility  will  be 
offered  for  the  expression  of  your  sentiments,  uninfluenced  by  any  con 
siderations  save  those  which  affect  your  own  interests  and  those  of  your 
posterity.  .  .  .  The  election  will  be  held  and  the  return  be  made  in 
accordance  with  the  schedule  adopted  by  the  convention,  and  no  inter 
ference  from  any  quarter  will  be  allowed  to  prevent  the  free  expression 
of  the  loyal  men  of  the  State  on  that  day.* 

The  election  pursuant  to  this  notice  began  March  14,  1864, 
the  polls  remaining  open  for  three  days.  For  the  constitu 
tion  12,177,  and  against  it  226,  votes  were  cast.8  Isaac  Mur 
phy,  against  whom  there  was  no  opposing  candidate,  was 
chosen  Governor  by  12,430  votes  cast  by  the  citizens  of  more 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  483-484. 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  pp.  29-30. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  30. 


ARKANSAS  91 

than  forty  counties.  As  early  as  March  18  the  President 
appears  to  have  received  from  the  Governor-elect  some  favor 
able  tidings,1  and  on  April  27,  when  more  complete  returns 
had  reached  him  from  the  same  source,  he  expressed  in  a 
telegram  his  gratification  at  the  large  vote,  more  than  double 
that  required  by  the  Louisiana  Plan,  and  also  at  the  intelli 
gence  that  the  State  government,  including  the  Legislature, 
was  organized  and  in  working  order.  2 

Besides  a  Governor  five  other  officers  of  the  executive  and 
several  members  of  the  judicial  branch  of  government  to 
gether  with  many  county  officials  were  chosen.  3  At  the 
same  time  three  Representatives  in  Congress,  T.  M.  Jacks,  A. 
A.  C.  Rogers  and  J.  M.  Johnson,  were  elected  from  the  First, 
Second  and  Third  Districts  respectively.  The  Legislature, 
composed  of  twenty  three  Senators  and  fifty-nine  members  of 
Assembly,  met  on  the  nth  of  April,  and  during  the  session, 
which  ended  June  i  succeeding,  appointed  William  Fishback 
and  Elisha  Baxter  United  States  Senators  to  fill  vacancies 
caused  by  the  secession  of  the  late  incumbents,  R.  W.  Johnson 
and  William  K.  Sebastian.  After  investigation  by  a  commit 
tee  of  Congress,  however,  they  were  declared  not  entitled  to 
seats;  but  as  each  possessed  such  a  title  to  membership  as  to 
justify  inquiry  they  were  paid  mileage.  This  consideration 
they  were  denied  when,  without  new  action,  they  subsequently 
presented  themselves  at  a  special  session  of  the  Senate;  on  that 
occasion  they  were  accompanied  by  William  D.  Snow,  who 
had  been  chosen  to  succeed  Fishback.  It  was  agreed,  March  9, 
1865,  to  postpone  till  the  next  session  of  Congress  considera 
tion  of  the  credentials  of  Mr.  Snow.  The  House,  without  ad 
mitting  as  Representatives  the  three  claimants  for  seats,  had 
consented  to  allow  them  mileage.  Arkansas,  unlike  Louisiana 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  501. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  515. 

8  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  30. 


92       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  Tennessee,  did  not  participate  in  the  Presidential  election 
of  1864,  because  of  a  feeling  that  its  electoral  vote  would  not 
be  received  even  if  offered.  This  course  appears  to  have  been 
adopted  on  the  suggestion  of  their  representatives,  who  re 
turned  with  such  a  conviction  from  a  sojourn  in  Washington.1 
A  succeeding  chapter,  in  tracing  the  origin  and  progress  of 
the  controversy  between  the  Executive  and  Legislative 
branches  of  Government,  will  describe  more  fully  the  attitude 
of  Congress  toward  Mr.  Lincoln's  efforts  at  reconstruction 
and  afford  an  opportunity  for  discussing  both  the  nature  of 
the  conventions  by  which  civil  government  had  been  restored 
in  Tennessee,  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  and  the  constitutional 
ity  of  the  various  Executive  acts  by  which  this  reestablish- 
ment  was  assisted. 

1  See  remarks  of  Senator  Pomeroy,  February  2,  1865,  Congressional 
Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  555. 


IV 


VIRGINIA 

THE  Federal  Government,  as  already  observed,  was  con 
strained  at  an  early  stage  of  the  Civil  War  to  define 
its  attitude  toward  loyal  citizens  of  the  seceding 
States.  The  earliest  indications  of  the  policy  adopted  may  be 
discerned  in  the  case  of  Virginia,  which  presents  the  only  in 
stance  of  a  people  in  any  of  the  insurrectionary  States  organ 
izing  open  resistance  to  revolution.  All  departments  of  gov 
ernment  in  that  Commonwealth  having  gone  over  to  rebel 
lion,  the  loyal  minority  were  left  without  any  organization  for 
the  conduct  of  domestic  affairs.  In  these  circumstances  they 
called  a  convention  which  by  an  original  act  of  sovereignty  re 
constituted  the  government.  The  progress  of  the  conflict  was 
attended  in  that  State  by  consequences  not  elsewhere  observed, 
and  it  is  chiefly  because  of  this  fact  that  a  slight  departure  from 
exact  chronological  order  is  believed  to  be  justified.  The 
principles  which  guided  the  Administration  will  be  easily 
comprehended  by  considering  their  application  to  the  novel 
and  somewhat  embarrassing  questions  that  arose  before  re 
bellion  was  finally  crushed  within  the  borders  of  that  once 
glorious  Commonwealth. 

"  The  Convention  of  Virginia  "  which,  by  authority  of  the 
Legislature,  assembled  at  Richmond,  February  13,  1861, 
passed  on  April  17  following  an  ordinance  of  secession  from 
the  United  States.1  Though  the  injunction  of  secrecy  was 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  7. 

93 


94       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

never  removed  from  this  proceeding,  the  tally,  discovered 
soon  after  among  the  private  papers  of  a  member,  shows  that 
88  delegates  favored  and  55  opposed  the  measure;  one  was 
excused  from  voting,  eight  were  either  absent  or  silent.1 
This  strong  opposition  is  explained  in  part  by  the  physical 
characteristics  of  the  State. 

The  principal  chain  of  the  Alleghanies  formed  in  the  west 
ern  portion  of  the  Old  Dominion  a  lofty  range  which  parts 
the  streams  rinding  their  way  into  the  Ohio  and  the  Potomac 
from  those  that  reach  the  lower  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay 
or  the  sounds  of  North  Carolina.  The  country  southeast  of 
this  ridge,  including  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  the  Piedmont 
district,  the  middle  division  and  the  tide-water  region,  con 
tained  about  three  fourths  of  the  white  inhabitants,  and  some 
thing  less  than  three  fourths  of  the  area,  of  Virginia.  In  this 
section  were  found  many  large  tobacco  plantations  cultivated 
almost  exclusively  by  negroes.  Indeed,  it  was  in  the  light 
soil  of  the  tide-water  counties  of  Virginia  that  English 
settlers  in  America  first  attempted,  nearly  two  and  one  half 
centuries  before,  the  memorable  experiment  of  African  slave 
labor.  Soon  after  1808,  when  their  importation  was  pro 
hibited  by  act  of  Congress,  slaves  were  bred  in  Virginia  to 
supply  the  demand  of  Southern  markets,  and  by  1860  the 
bondmen  in  that  Commonwealth  had  become  almost  two 
thirds  as  numerous  as  the  master  race.2  It  is  sufficiently  ac 
curate  to  say  that  the  triangular  district  bounded  on  the  north 
by  the  winding  course  of  the  Potomac,  by  the  parallel  of  36° 
31'  on  the  south  and  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  crest 
of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  comprised  all  that  part  of  "  the 
good  old  commonwealth  "  which  was  then  either  historically 
important  or  interesting.  This  prolific  soil  was  the  birthplace 
of  many  of  America's  most  illustrious  sons;  its  inhabitants  for 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,   p.  7n. 
1  Eighth  Census,  pp.  516-522. 


VIRGINIA  95 

the  most  part  were  proud  to  trace  their  descent  from  the 
earliest  settlers  along  the  James;  many  were  wealthy,  and  all 
had  long  been  distinguished  for  their  hospitality. 

Beyond  this  favored  region  the  country,  which  slopes 
gradually  down  to  the  upper  Potomac  and  the  Ohio,  is 
marked  by  a  succession  of  parallel  ranges  separated  by  fertile 
valleys;  but  like  the  large  tract  which  encircled  the  Adiron- 
dacks  and  a  similar  one  in  northern  Pennsylvania,  the  Vir 
ginian  wilderness  remained  untouched  by  the  ceaseless  tide  of 
immigration  which  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  swept  west 
ward  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  For  this  uninviting  region 
the  second  Federal  census  indicates  less  than  two  inhabitants 
to  the  square  mile;  by  1810  pioneers  from  the  line  of  the  Ohio 
river  encroached  on  its  silent  forests.  At  the  next  census, 
however,  a  portion  was  still  unoccupied,  but  in  the  succeeding 
decennial  period  it  received  from  various  points,  chiefly  from 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  New  England,  many  enterprising 
and  thrifty  settlers.  The  sixth  census,  that  of  1840,  represents 
the  entire  tract  as  sparsely  inhabited.1  Its  abundant  resources, 
then  but  little  developed,  subsequently  gave  rise  to  a  great 
variety  of  profitable  industries,  and  it  advanced  rapidly  in 
population.  Extensive  plantations,  however,  were  few;  the 
number  of  slaves,  owing  somewhat  to  the  facility  for  escape, 
had  always  been  small,  and  in  the  ten  years  preceding  the  out 
break  of  hostilities  had  actually  diminished  by  upwards  of  two 
thousand.2  Though  it  then  contained  nearly  one  fourth  of  the 
whites,  it  included  no  more  than  one  thirtieth  of  the  negroes 
in  the  State.  Their  labor,  too,  except  in  other  than  agricul 
tural  occupations,  afforded  little  remuneration.  In  conse 
quence  of  its  productions  as  well  as  its  location  both  the 

1  Density  maps  in  Tenth  Census  (Population),  pp.  xii-xiii,  xiv-xv,  xvi- 
xvii. 

'Blair  in  Appendix  to  Globe,  pp.  327-331,  2  Sess.  37th  Cong.;  Eighth 
Census,  pp.  516-522;  Seventh  Census,  pp.  242-261. 


96       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

interests  and  sympathies  of  the  people  were  with  the  adjoining 
States  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania. 

But,  apart  from  geographical  considerations,  northwestern 
Virginia  had  a  grievance  of  long  standing:  for  years  its  in 
habitants  had  complained  that  they  were  not  fairly  repre 
sented  in  the  Legislature,  and  the  immunity  from  taxation 
enjoyed  by  their  fellow-citizens  east  of  the  mountains  was  a 
discrimination  too  gross  to  escape  attention.  The  slave 
oligarchy,  they  declared,  possessed  and  wielded  for  its  own 
advantage  the  political  power  of  the  State.  The  question  of 
its  dismemberment  had  been  discussed  as  early  as  1829-30, 
when  the  mountain  sons  of  Virginia  were  on  the  verge  of 
revolution.  The  East  then  yielded  a  pittance  of  power,  which, 
though  far  short  of  the  demands  of  justice,  reconciled  western 
Virginians  for  the  time.  In  1850  they  were  again  on  the 
point  of  insurrection.  On  this  occasion  adequate  representa 
tion  was  conceded  in  the  lower  though  withheld  in  the  upper 
chamber  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  dominant  party  thus 
retaining  control  of  that  body  as  well  as  the  benefits  of  a  con 
stitutional  provision  by  which  slaves  under  the  age  of  twelve 
years  were  exempt  from  taxation,  and  of  those  liable  to  assess 
ment  none  could  be  valued  at  more  than  three  hundred  dollars 
even  if  worth  in  the  market  a  thousand  dollars  or  upwards.1 
Moreover,  much  of  the  public  revenue  was  expended  upon  in 
ternal  improvements  for  the  eastern  section  of  the  State.  The 
Shenandoah  Valley,  at  one  time  showing  signs  of  discontent, 
was  bound  by  the  construction  of  railways,  in  social  as  well  as 
in  commercial  life,  more  firmly  to  Richmond.  In  short,  the 
Alleghanies  formed  a  barrier  almost  completely  cutting  off 
intercourse  between  the  two  divisions.  Their  relations  were 
well  expressed  by  Governor  Pierpont,  who  told  Senator  Wade 
that  there  was  no  communication  whatever  between  the 
people  except  the  furnishing  a  few  members  to  the  Legislature 

1  Parker,  The  Formation  of  \^est  Virginia,  p.  125. 


VIRGINIA  97 

and  a  few  inmates  of  the  penitentiary.1  Their  different  in 
terests  tended  to  alienate  the  sections;  the  hand  of  nature  had 
traced  the  line  of  separation. 

Now,  however,  that  a  crisis  was  impending,  the  Richmond 
authorities,  to  harmonize  every  element  within  their  Com 
monwealth,  were  willing  to  forego  this  privilege;  to  share  the 
burdens  of  State  administration,  to  meet  State  liabilities,  and 
generally  to  place  themselves  on  a  footing  of  equality  with 
their  fellow-citizens  along  the  Ohio.  This  concession,  by  a 
majority  of  50,000,  was  actually  extorted  in  an  election  from 
the  prudence  or  the  fears  of  disunionists  whose  magnanimity 
was  duly  emphasized  by  Governor  Letcher  in  an  appeal  to 
the  people  of  the  northwest.2  The  latter  refused,  notwith 
standing,  to  acquiesce  in  the  action  of  the  secession  convention 
which,  so  far  as  it  was  able  to  do  so,  carried  their  State,  as  a 
political  organization,  out  of  the  Union. 

It  may  be  affirmed  generally  that  the  professional  politi 
cians  and  large  property  owners  of  this  region  were  disloyal;  3 
State  officials  with  surprising  unanimity  were  ardent  advo 
cates  of  secession  and  active  in  committing  their  Common 
wealth  to  its  support.  An  overwhelming  proportion  of  the 
plain  people,  however,  were  devotedly  attached  to  the  Union 
and  determined  on  its  preservation.  Therefore  when  the 
Richmond  State  government  attempted  to  execute  its  laws  in 
these  parts  it  encountered  the  most  spirited  resistance. 
Especially  was  this  true  in  the  Pan  Handle  counties,  where 
opposition  was  promptly  organized. 

Probably  the  first  consultation  upon  the  grave  questions 
that  had  arisen  was  held  at  the  Court  House  in  Wellsburgh, 
Brooke  County,  where  a  large  number  of  citizens  from  that 
and  the  adjacent  county  of  Hancock  assembled  to  hear  the 

1  Globe,  2.  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  3038. 

a  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  pp.  743-744- 

*  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  36. 


98       LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

report  of  Mr.  Campbell  Tarr,  their  delegate  to  Richmond. 
From  Harrison  came  Hon.  John  S.  Carlile,  who,  like  Mr. 
Tarr,  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  from  that  city,  where 
he  had  represented  his  county  in  the  convention.  They  re 
ported  the  proceedings  of  that  body  and  urged  immediate 
preparation  to  resist.  As  a  result  of  this  discussion  a  com 
mittee  of  four  was  appointed  to  procure  arms  and  ammuni 
tion  in  Washington.  En  route  thither  they  had  an  interview 
at  Harrisburg  with  Governor  Curtin,  who  not  only  expressed 
sympathy  with  their  object,  but  promised  assistance  if  neces 
sary.  On  arriving  at  the  national  capital  they  called  upon  Hon. 
Edwin  M.  Stanton,  who  was  a  native  of  Steubenville,  Ohio, 
and  a  warm  personal  friend  of  each  member  of  the  committee. 
They  were  immediately  presented  to  Mr.  Cameron,  Secretary 
of  War,  who,  on  learning  the  purpose  of  their  visit,  manifested 
some  hesitation  as  to  his  legal  right  to  comply  with  their 
request.  Upon  this  Mr.  Stanton  declared  with  emphasis  that 
"  the  law  of  necessity  gives  the  right,"  and  added,  "  let  them 
have  arms  and  ammunition;  we  will  look  for  the  book  law 
afterwards."  1  Two  thousand  rifles  with  suitable  ammuni 
tion  were  then  furnished,  and  as  security  for  their  proper 
use  Mr.  Stanton  tendered  his  own  name.  From  Wellsburgh, 
where  they  were  temporarily  kept  in  expectation  of  a  rebel 
attack,  these  arms  were  sent  for  distribution  to  Wheeling. 

United  States  troops  from  Ohio  and  Indiana  together  with 
local  volunteers  soon  drove  the  Confederate  forces  from  this 
region,  and  subsequently,  though  often  menaced,  it  was  al 
most  exempt  from  the  ravages  of  war.2  Thus  encouraged, 
Union  men  resolved  to  form  a  political  organization  coexten 
sive  with  Virginia  or  to  establish  a  separate  and  distinct  State. 
Preliminary  movements  toward  that  end  were  promptly  in 
augurated,  and,  April  22,  1861,  five  days  after  the  passage  of 

1  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  42. 
« Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  pp.  742-743- 


VIRGINIA 


99 


the  ordinance,  nearly  1,200  citizens  of  Clarksburgh  de 
nounced  in  a  public  meeting  the  action  of  the  secession  con 
vention  and  recommended  the  people  of  northwestern  Vir 
ginia  to  assemble  on  May  13  at  Wheeling.  On  the  4th  a 
Union  mass  meeting  had  been  held  at  Kingwood,  near  the 
northern  border.  The  separation  of  western  from  eastern 
Virginia  was  declared  by  this  body  to  be  essential  to  the  main 
tenance  of  their  liberties.  They  also  resolved  to  elect  a  Repre 
sentative  to  Congress.  On  the  following  day  there  convened 
at  Wheeling  another  assemblage,  which  considered  the  ques 
tion  of  separating  from  that  portion  of  the  State  in  rebellion. 
About  the  same  time  other  gatherings  were  held  in  different 
localities. 

There  were  thousands  of  eager  and  earnest  patriots  in  the 
city  of  Wheeling  on  May  13,  when  nearly  four  hundred  dele 
gates,  mostly  appointed  by  primary  meetings,  and  represent 
ing  twenty-six  counties,  assembled  to  deliberate  on  the  situ 
ation.  The  best  method  of  organizing  opposition  to  treason 
was  the  question:  how  to  inaugurate  a  government  which 
the  Federal  authorities  would  recognize  and  protect  ? 1  On 
this  important  subject  there  is  said  to  have  been  considerable 
diversity  of  opinion;  the  decision  finally  reached  was  based 
upon  a  suggestion  by  one  of  the  members  that  since  Governor 
Letcher  and  other  State  officers,  by  adhering  to  the  pretended 
ordinance  of  secession,  had  forfeited  their  powers,  and  the 
existing  constitution  made  no  provision  for  such  an  emer 
gency,  the  only  way  was  to  ask  the  people,  the  source  of  all 
political  power,  to  send  delegates  to  a  convention  authorized 
to  supply  their  places  with  loyal  men.  This  proposal  was 
presented  to  the  meeting  and  adopted  with  great  unanimity.2 
A  General  State  Committee,  empowered  to  appoint  sub-com 
mittees  in  all  counties  where  practicable,  was  then  named, 

1  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  43. 
» Ibid. 


ioo     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  a  stirring  address  put  forth.  It  announced  their  purpose 
and  urged  all  loyal  citizens  to  elect  representatives  to  a  second 
convention.  Copies  of  this  appeal  v/ere  sent  to  influential  citi 
zens  throughout  the  State,  and  it  was  agreed  after  a  session  of 
three  days  to  choose  on  May  26  delegates  to  the  proposed 
convention. 

This  election  having  been  held  at  the  time  appointed,  rep 
resentatives  from  nearly  forty  counties  assembled  at  Wheel 
ing  on  June  n.  The  convention,  numbering  98  members, 
organized  by  selecting  for  its  president  Hon  Arthur  I.  Bore- 
man.  Before  proceeding  to  business  the  following  oath  was 
administered  to  the  delegation  from  each  county :  "  We 
solemnly  declare  that  we  will  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  as  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  anything  in  the  Ordinance  of  the 
Convention  that  assembled  in  Richmond  on  the  I3th  day  of 
February  last  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  so  help  us 
God."  *  The  State  government  was  reconstituted  on  the  i3th 
by  an  ordinance  declaring  vacant  all  places,  whether  legisla 
tive,  executive  or  judicial,  whose  incumbents  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  secession.  This  class,  as  already  observed,  included 
nearly  every  official  in  Virginia.  These  vacancies  the  con 
vention  supplied  by  the  appointment  of  loyal  men.  In  the  con 
stitution  they  made  an  important  alteration  which  prescribed 
the  number  of  delegates  necessary  to  constitute  a  quorum  in 
the  General  Assembly.  All  State,  county  and  town  officials 
were  required  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  which  pledged 
support  of  both  the  Federal  Constitution  and  the  restored 
government  of  Virginia.  On  June  17  a  declaration  of  inde 
pendence  was  adopted  without  one  dissenting  voice;  it  de 
nounced  the  usurpation  of  the  Richmond  convention,  which 
had  assumed  to  place  the  resources  of  Virginia  at  the  disposal 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  743 ;  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  45,  gives 
the  oath  in  a  form  slightly  different. 


VIRGINIA  101 

of  the  Confederate  Government,  to  which  power  it  repudiated 
allegiance.  Resolutions  expressing  a  determination  never  to 
submit  to  the  ordinance  of  secession,  but  to  maintain  the  rights 
of  Virginia  in  the  Union,  were  then  passed.  All  persons  in 
arms  against  the  national  Government  were  commanded  to 
disband  and  to  return  to  their  allegiance.  Though  the  mem 
bers  seriously  endeavored  to  reorganize  their  government,  it 
was  with  an  express  declaration  that  a  division  of  the  Com 
monwealth  was  a  paramount  object  of  their  labors,  and  they 
decided,  June  20,  by  a  unanimous  vote  in  favor  of  ultimate 
separation. 

Under  an  ordinance  previously  adopted  Hon.  Francis  H. 
Pierpont  was  chosen  Governor  on  the  same  day;  a  lieutenant- 
governor,  an  attorney-general  and  an  executive  council  of  five 
were  also  appointed.  Other  administrative  offices  were  subse 
quently  filled.  The  new  incumbents  were  to  exercise  their 
functions  for  six  months  or  until  successors  should  be  elected 
and  qualified.  The  convention  on  June  25,  subject  in  an  emer 
gency  to  be  re-assembled  by  the  Governor  and  Council,  then 
adjourned  to  August  6,  1861. 

Before  concluding  this  session  the  convention  directed  all 
members  willing  to  swear  fealty  to  the  Union,  who  were 
elected  to  the  assembly  on  May  23  preceding,  to  meet  on  the 
1st  of  July  at  Wheeling.  At  the  time  of  their  election  these 
representatives  were  destined  for  Richmond.  In  addition  to 
those  regularly  chosen  under  the  old  law  of  the  Common 
wealth,  others  pursuant  to  an  ordinance  of  the  convention 
were  elected  to  fill  vacancies.  All  were  to  qualify  them 
selves  by  taking  an  oath  or  affirmation  of  allegiance  to  the 
United  States  and  to  the  reorganized  government  of  Virginia. 
These  members,  chiefly  from  the  western  counties,  were  to 
compose  the  law-making  body,  which  was  invested  with  all 
the  powers  and  duties  pertaining  to  the  General  Assembly. 

The  new  Governor  was  inaugurated  on  June  20,  and,  after 


102     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

taking  the  oath  of  office,  said :  "  We  have  been  driven  into 
the  position  we  occupy  to-day  by  the  usurpers  at  the  South, 
who  have  inaugurated  this  war  upon  the  soil  of  Virginia,  and 
have  made  it  the  great  Crimea  of  this  contest.  We,  represent 
ing  the  loyal  citizens  of  Virginia,  have  been  bound  to  assume 
the  position  we  have  assumed  to-day  for  the  protection  of 
ourselves,  our  wives,  our  children,  and  our  property.  We, 
I  repeat,  have  been  driven  to  assume  this  position;  and  now 
we  are  but  recurring  to  the  great  fundamental  principle  of 
our  fathers,  that  to  the  loyal  people  of  a  State  belongs  the 
law-making  power  of  that  State.  The  loyal  people  are  en 
titled  to  the  government  and  governmental  authority  of  the 
State.  And,  fellow-citizens,  it  is  the  assumption  of  that  au 
thority  upon  which  we  are  now  about  to  enter."  1 

"  It  was  not  the  object  of  the  Wheeling  convention,"  he  de 
clared  on  a  later  occasion,  "  to  set  up  any  new  government  in 
the  State,  or  separate,  or  other  government  than  the  one 
under  which  they  had  always  lived."2 

From  these  utterances  his  hearers  must  have  concluded  that 
the  reorganized  government  was  not  for  a  part  but  for  the 
whole  of  Virginia.  Indeed,  it  was  to  the  discernment  of  Mr. 
Pierpont  that  Virginia  loyalists  were  chiefly  indebted  for  a 
legal  solution  of  the  intricate  problem  that  confronted  them. 
While  Carlile  and  others  were  urging  a  counter-revolution, 
Mr.  Pierpont  was  carefully  studying  the  provisions  of  the 
Federal  Constitution.  The  clause  of  that  instrument  which 
guarantees  a  republican  form  of  government  was  designed, 
he  believed,  to  meet  just  such  an  emergency  as  had  arisen. 
Though  this  conservative  suggestion  was  not  at  first  received 
with  much  favor,  it  continued  gradually  to  win  adherents  until 
its  propriety  was  universally  recognized.3  By  thus  proceed- 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  743. 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1862,  p.  801. 
1  Mr.  A.  W.  Campbell  in  The  Wheeling  Daily  Intelligencer,  April  14, 1897. 


VIRGINIA  103 

ing  along  constitutional  lines  a  State  government  in  all  its 
branches  was  soon  established  in  every  county  not  occupied 
by  an  armed  foe. 

The  Legislature  of  the  restored  State  assembled,  July  2,  at 
Wheeling  and  assumed  the  full  exercise  of  its  powers.  Two 
United  States  Senators,  Waitman  T.  Willey,  whose  fidelity 
many  considered  doubtful,  and  John  S.  Carlile,  an  able,  elo 
quent  and  then  a  trusted  leader,  were  elected,  July  9;  the 
former  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  withdrawal  of 
James  M.  Mason,  the  latter  to  succeed  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter, 
who  also  had  abdicated  his  seat  in  Congress.  Both  were 
admitted,  though  not  without  a  vigorous  protest  from  the 
minority,  to  seats  at  the  first  session  of  the  Thirty-seventh 
Congress,  which  met  on  July  4,  1861. 

Their  certificates  were  presented,  July  13,  by  Andrew  John 
son.  Senator  Bayard  entered  a  protest.  Their  admission,  he 
said,  would  be  a  recognition  of  an  organization  that  was  not 
the  regular  government  of  the  Commonwealth.  Mr.  Letcher 
was  still  Governor  of  Virginia,  his  term  not  having  expired. 
The  Senate  had  no  authority  to  create  a  new  State  out  of  a 
part  of  an  existing  one.  He  then  moved  to  refer  their  cre 
dentials  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  His  colleague, 
Mr.  Saulsbury,  objected,  that  Mason  and  Hunter  were  not 
expelled  until  July  n,  whereas  the  claimants  were  appointed 
two  days  previously,  at  a  time  when  no  vacancies  had  occurred. 
To  this  Senator  Johnson  replied  that  the  vacancies  did  in 
fact  exist  at  the  time  of  their  election,  July  9,  and  that  the 
expulsion  of  Mason  and  Hunter  was  not  merely  a  declaration 
that  vacancies  existed,  but  their  seats  were  regarded  as  filled, 
and  the  occupants  expelled  from  the  floor  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Bayard  denied  that,  even  if  Mason  and  Hunter  were 
guilty  of  the  alleged  crimes,  there  was  any  power  in  either 
the  Governor  or  Legislature  to  terminate  their  appointments ; 
they  might  die,  they  could  be  removed  by  expulsion,  but 


104    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

vacancies  could  not  be  anticipated  by  the  Legislature  of  Vir 
ginia.  The  name  of  Mr.  Pierpont  could  convey  no  authority 
to  their  credentials.  On  the  question  of  reference  five  Senators 
voted  in  the  affirmative,  thirty-five  in  the  negative.  The  oath 
was  therefore  administered  and  they  took  their  seats,  July  13, 
at  the  special  session  which  began  on  the  4th.1 

A  resolution  was  passed  by  the  House  of  Delegates  of  the 
reorganized  government  instructing  the  Senators  and  request 
ing  their  Representatives  in  Congress  to  vote  the  necessary  ap 
propriation  of  men  and  money  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of 
the  war,  and  to  oppose  all  compromise.  A  stay  law  was  also 
enacted  by  the  Legislature,  and  a  bill  passed  which  authorized 
the  Governor  to  organize  a  patrol  in  such  counties  as  might 
require  it;  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  appropriated 
for  military  purposes. 

On  August  6,  1 86 1,  the  Wheeling  convention  reassembled. 
Hitherto  in  all  its  proceedings  relative  to  a  reorganization 
there  had  been  great  unanimity,  but  when  the  delegates  re 
turned  they  were  conscious  of  a  strong  popular  sentiment  in 
favor  of  erecting  a  new  State,  a  subject  that  had  been  intro 
duced,  though  not  much  discussed,  before  adjournment.  This 
determination  among  their  constituents  seriously  troubled 
many  of  the  members.  Political  aspirations  had  been  awak 
ened;  many  of  them  had  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  the  humbler 
offices  under  the  mother  State;  the  Union  forces,  it  was  confi 
dently  expected,  would  soon  crush  the  insurrection  in  Virginia, 
and  the  reorganized  government,  with  themselves  at  its  head, 
would  be  acquiesced  in  by  their  recent  oppressors.  To  their 
ambition  this  hope  was  far  more  flattering  than  the  prospect 
of  administering  the  affairs  of  a  comparatively  small  State 
on  the  western  frontier  of  the  Old  Dominion.  Then,  too,  the 
idea  of  dismemberment  was  certain  to  wound  Virginia  State 
pride.  Moreover,  the  movement  to  form  an  independent  com- 
1  Globe,  i  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  103-109. 


VIRGINIA  105 

monwealth,  when  the  reorganized  government  itself  had  been 
scarcely  recognized,  would  look  premature.  Sentiments  of  this 
nature  had  begun  to  possess  the  minds  of  many  delegates 
about  the  time  of  their  return. 

In  compliance  with  what  appeared  to  be  a  popular  demand, 
however,  these  considerations  were  disregarded,  and  the  con 
vention  by  a  vote  of  50  to  28  passed  an  ordinance  authorizing 
the  formation  out  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  of  a  new 
State  to  be  called  Kanawha,  which  was  to  embrace  thirty- 
nine  counties  between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Ohio,  provided 
the  people  thereof,  at  an  election  to  be  held  on  October  24, 
should  express  themselves  in  favor  of  such  a  measure;  on  cer 
tain  prescribed  conditions  other  contiguous  counties  could  be 
annexed.  At  the  election  which  was  to  decide  this  important 
question  delegates  to  a  constitutional  convention  were  also  to 
be  chosen,  and,  if  separation  was  approved  by  the  people,  these 
representatives  were  to  assemble  at  Wheeling  on  November 
26  and  organize  themselves  into  a  convention.  Any  consti 
tution  which  they  might  adopt  was  to  be  submitted  to  the 
qualified  electors  of  the  counties  concerned.  The  new  com 
monwealth  was  to  assume  a  just  proportion  of  Virginia's 
public  debt  as  it  existed  prior  to  January  i,  1861 ;  private 
rights  derived  from  her  laws  were  to  be  valid  under  the  pro 
posed  State,  and  were  to  be  determined  by  the  laws  then  exist 
ing  in  Virginia.1 

The  convention,  as  previously  noted,  reassembled  on 
August  6.  Three  days  later  one  A.  F.  Ritchie,  a  member 
from  Marion  County,  forwarded  to  Attorney-General  Bates  at 
Washington  a  letter  which  requested  and  received  an  imme 
diate  reply.  Mr.  Ritchie  published  the  response,  of  which  this 
is  the  important  part : 

The  formation  of  a  new  State  out  of  Western  Virginia  is  an  original, 
independent  act  of  revolution.  I  do  not  deny  the  power  of  revolution  (I 

1  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  pp.  47'48- 


io6    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

do  not  call  it  right,  for  it  is  never  prescribed ;  it  exists  in  force  only,  and 
has  and  can  have  no  law  but  the  will  of  the  revolutionists).  Any  attempt 
to  carry  it  out  involves  a  plain  breach  of  both  the  constitutions  —  of  Vir 
ginia  and  of  the  Nation.  And  hence  it  is  plain  that  you  cannot  take  such  a 
course  without  weakening,  if  not  destroying,  your  claims  upon  the  sym 
pathy  and  support  of  the  General  Government,  and  without  disconcerting 
the  plan  already  adopted  by  both  Virginia  and  the  General  Government 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  revolted  States  and  the  restoration  of  the 
integrity  of  the  Union. 

That  plan  I  understand  to  be  this:  When  a  State,  by  its  perverted 
functionaries,  has  declared  itself  out  of  the  Union,  we  avail  ourselves  of 
all  the  sound  and  loyal  elements  of  the  State  —  all  who  own  allegiance  to 
and  claim  protection  of  the  Constitution  —  to  form  a  State  government  as 
nearly  as  may  be  upon  the  former  model,  and  claiming  to  be  the  very  State 
which  has  been  in  part  overthrown  by  the  successful  rebellion.  In  this 
way  we  establish  a  constitutional  nucleus  around  which  all  the  shattered 
elements  of  the  common  wealth 'may  meet  and  combine,  and  thus  restore 
the  old  State  in  its  original  integrity. 

This,  I  verily  thought,  was  the  plan  adopted  at  Wheeling,  and  recog 
nized  and  acted  upon  by  the  General  Government  here.  Your  conven 
tion  annulled  the  revolutionary  proceedings  at  Richmond,  both  in  the 
Convention  and  the  General  Assembly,  and  your  new  Governor  formally 
demanded  of  the  President  the  fulfillment  of  the  constitutional  guaranty 
in  favor  of  Virginia  —  Virginia  as  known  to  our  fathers  and  to  us.  The 
President  admitted  the  obligation,  and  promised  his  best  efforts  to  fulfill 
it.  And  the  Senate  admitted  your  Senators,  not  as  representing  a  new 
and  nameless  State,  now  for  the  first  time  heard  of  in  our  history,  but  as 
representing  "  the  good  old  commonwealth." 

Must  all  this  be  undone,  and  a  new  and  hazardous  experiment  be  ven 
tured  upon,  at  the  moment  when  dangers  and  difficulties  are  thickening 
around  us?  I  hope  not.  ...  I  had  rejoiced  in  the  movement  in 
Western  Virginia,  as  a  legal,  constitutional,  and  safe  refuge  from  revolu 
tion  and  anarchy ;  as  at  once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  the  resto 
ration  of  all  the  revolted  States. 

I  have  not  time  now  to  discuss  the  subject  in  its  various  bearings. 
What  I  have  written  is  written  with  a  running  pen  and  will  need  your 
charitable  criticism. 

If  I  had  time  to  think,  I  could  give  persuasive  reasons  for  declining  the 
attempt  to  create  a  new  State  at  this  perilous  time.  At  another  time  I 
might  be  willing  to  go  fully  into  the  question,  but  now  I  can  say  no 
more.1 

*The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  pp.  48-50;  also  Ann.  Cycl.,  1861, 
P.  745- 


VIRGINIA  107 

Mr.  Ritchie,  who  had  opposed  a  dismemberment  of  the  old 
Commonwealth,  was  anxious,  no  doubt,  to  justify  his  vote  by 
the  endorsement  of  an  eminent  public  character,  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  before  finally  determining  his  action  in  so  im 
portant  a  matter  he  was  desirous  of  the  opinion  of  some  mem 
ber  of  the  Administration.  Mr.  Bates's  communication  is 
dated  the  I2th;  the  convention  did  not  adjourn  till  the  25th  of 
August.  At  any  time  prior  to  January  i,  1862,  it  was  subject 
to  be  reassembled  by  its  president  or  by  the  Governor. 

The  election  of  October  24,  by  a  vote  of  18,408  to  781,  de 
cided  in  favor  of  a  division  of  the  Commonwealth.1  At  the 
same  time  fifty-three  delegates,  representing  forty-one  coun 
ties,  were  chosen  to  frame  a  constitution  for  the  proposed 
State.  Of  this  convention  John  Hall  was  elected  president 
and  Ellery  R.  Hall  secretary.  The  task  before  it,  by  no  means 
an  easy  one,  was  to  draft  a  fundamental  law  that  would  se 
cure  the  approval  of  the  people  of  western  Virginia,  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  restored  State  and  of  Congress.  After  a 
session  of  nearly  three  months  it  adjourned,  February  18, 
1862.  Commissioners  to  convoke  this  body,  should  its  work 
be  recognized  by  Congress,  had  first  been  appointed.  On  De 
cember  3  preceding  the  name  of  the  new  State  was  changed 
to  West  Virginia. 

In  the  convention  were  many  members  who  desired  silence 
on  the  subject  of  slavery;  others  saw  clearly  that  to  ignore 
the  cause  of  their  present  troubles  would  ensure  a  rejection 
of  their  work  by  Congress.  This  element  felt  assured  that 
the  temper  of  the  national  Legislature  would  not  indulge 
the  slave  power  by  giving  it  two  additional  Senators  besides 
an  increase  of  strength  in  the  Electoral  College.  There 
was  also  a  sentiment  which  desired  a  postponement  of  the 
disturbing  question  until  all  others  had  first  been  determined. 
The  friends  of  gradual  emancipation  were  warned  by  leading 

1  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  57. 


io8    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Republicans  in  Congress  that  the  constitution  would  not  be 
recognized  without  a  satisfactory  provision  on  this  subject. 
The  "  peculiar  institution,"  however,  still  possessed  influence 
enough  to  defeat  such  a  purpose,  and  the  convention  ad 
journed  without  inserting  any  expression  concerning  slavery. 
Still,  the  friends  of  emancipation  did  not  despair.  Mr. 
Parker,  one  of  these,  caused  to  be  printed  in  Ohio  instructions 
to  their  assemblymen  to  make  the  following  provision  a  part 
of  their  constitution  if  the  speedy  admission  of  the  new  State 
into  the  Union  should  appear  to  require  it :  "  All  children 
born  of  slave  mothers  in  this  State,  after  the  constitution 
goes  into  operation,  shall  be  free,  males  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight  years,  and  females  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  and  the 
children  of  such  females  to  be  free  at  birth."  1 

This  unauthorized  action  of  Mr.  Parker,  in  connection  with 
appeals  through  the  newspapers,  was  not  without  effect.  At 
their  county-seat  the  citizens  of  Upshur  passed,  among  other 
resolutions,  the  following :  "  That  we,  the  citizens  of  Upshur 
County,  do  endorse  and  accept  the  policy  recommended  by  the 
present  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States,  (Abraham 
Lincoln)  in  his  message  of  the  6th  of  March,  1862,  to  Con 
gress,  in  regard  to  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  the 
border  States,  as  the  policy  that  should  be  adopted  by  the 
people  of  West  Virginia;  and  we  do  now  pledge  ourselves 
to  advocate,  defend  and  carry  out  the  said  policy,  as  the 
most  promotive  of  our  liberty,  safety  and  prosperity  in  the 
Union."  2  Another  resolution,  adopted  on  this  occasion,  de 
clared  that  the  meeting  expected  the  convention  would  have 
given  the  people  an  opportunity  of  expressing  their  sentiments 
on  slavery  in  the  proposed  State.  The  convention,  they  com 
plained,  did  not  reflect  the  popular  will. 

The  Union  men  and  the  loyal  press  of  other  counties  fol- 

1  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  79. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  93. 


VIRGINIA  109 

lowed  the  example  of  Upshur  by  approving  the  measure  or 
copying  the  "  Instructions."  Thus  at  the  time  of  voting  on 
the  constitution  an  informal  poll  on  slavery  was  obtained  in 
twenty  counties. 

A  faction  in  the  convention  proposed  to  annex  the  Shenan- 
doah  Valley  with  its  large  negro  population;  the  success  of 
such  a  plan,  it  was  well  understood,  would  ensure  a  rejection 
of  the  new  State  by  Congress.  To  anticipate  somewhat  the 
events  presently  to  be  narrated  it  may  be  remarked  at  this 
point  that  the  adversaries  of  the  measure  in  Washington  em 
ployed  precisely  the  same  tactics  to  defeat  the  movement  for 
erecting  an  independent  State. 

The  new  establishment  under  Pierpont  was  regarded  as  rep 
resenting  the  old  Commonwealth.  On  December  2,  1861, 
the  reorganized  Legislature  again  assembled.  The  Governor 
recommended  a  repeal  of  the  stay  laws  and  confiscation  of  the 
property  of  secessionists.  He  congratulated  the  people  that 
they  had  contributed  their  full  quota,  about  6,000  men,  to  the 
Union  army. 

The  adversaries  of  slavery  endeavored  to  obtain  the  con 
sent  of  the  restored  Legislature  to  the  condition  that  the 
gradual  emancipation  clause  should  become  a  part  of  the 
constitution  as  soon  as  ratified  by  the  people.  If  Congress  at 
its  present  session  would  give  its  consent  and  admit  the  new 
State  on  the  same  condition,  the  people,  they  declared,  could 
be  trusted  to  ratify  afterward. 

An  election  held  April  3,  1862,  gave,  including  the  sol 
diers'  vote,  28,321  for  and  572  against  the  constitution,  no 
returns  being  received  from  ten  counties.1  The  vote  for 

1  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  96,  says  16,981  for  and  441  against 
the  constitution.  The  Annual  Cyclopaedia  for  1862,  p.  801,  gives  the  vote 
as  18,862  in  favor  of,  and  514  against,  the  constitution.  Poore's  Charters 
and  Constitutions,  Vol.  II.  p.  1977,  is  the  authority  for  the  statement  in 
the  text. 


i  to    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

gradual  emancipation,  where  an  expression  was  had,  was 
almost  equal  to  that  given  for  the  constitution,  both  being 
nearly  unanimous.  The  former  received  6,052  for  and  610 
against  it.  How  far  this  informal  expression  of  opinion 
influenced  Congress  will  presently  be  noticed. 

At  an  extra  session  of  the  Legislature,  convoked  by  Gov 
ernor  Pierpont,  an  act,  in  almost  the  identical  language  of  that 
assenting  to  the  formation  of  Kentucky,  was  passed,  May  13, 
1862,  giving  consent  to  the  erection  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
Virginia  of  a  new  State  to  include  forty-eight  named  coun 
ties;  the  second  section  of  this  act  provided  that  Berkeley, 
Jefferson  and  Frederic  counties  could  be  annexed  whenever  a 
majority  of  their  votes,  at  an  election  to  be  held  for  that  pur 
pose,  should  ratify  the  constitution.  The  act,  together  with 
a  certified  original  of  the  constitution,  was  to  be  transmitted 
to  their  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Washington,  who 
were  requested  to  use  their  endeavors  to  obtain  the  consent  of 
Congress  to  the  admission  of  West  Virginia  into  the 
Union. 

On  June  23,  1862,  Mr.  Wade,  from  the  Committee  on 
Territories,  reported  to  the  United  States  Senate  a  bill  for  the 
admission  of  West  Virginia  into  the  Union,  and  three  days 
later  requested  its  consideration.  It  stipulated,  among  other 
things,  that  "  the  convention  thereinafter  provided  for  shall, 
in  the  constitution  to  be  framed  by  it,  make  provision  that 
from  and  after  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1863,  the  children  of 
all  slaves  born  within  the  limits  of  the  State  shall  be  free  " ; 
it  also  allotted  to  the  new  Commonwealth  as  many  Repre 
sentatives  in  Congress  as  her  population  would  justify  under 
the  apportionment  then  existing. 

Charles  Sumner  observed  that  the  former  was  the  imposi 
tion  of  a  condition  which  proposed  to  recognize  the  existence 
of  slavery  during  that  generation.  "  Short  as  life  may  be," 


VIRGINIA  in 

he  declared,  "  it  is  too  long  for  slavery."  By  the  admission  of 
West  Virginia  a  new  slave  State  would  be  added;  he  moved, 
therefore,  to  substitute  for  this  requirement  the  Jeffersonian 
interdict  that  "  within  the  limits  of  said  State  there  shall  be 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  otherwise  than  in 
punishment  of  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  be  duly  con 
victed." 

Mr.  Hale  justly  remarked  that  after  consenting  to  the 
admission  of  so  many  States  with  pro-slavery  constitutions 
it  would  be  a  singular  fact  if  the  first  that  ever  applied 
with  a  provision  for  prospective  emancipation  should  be 
rejected. 

Senator  Collamer  believed  that  if  West  Virginia  was  to 
enter  on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality  with  other  members 
of  the  Union  she  should,  like  them,  have  the  right  to  regulate 
domestic  questions,  including  slavery,  in  her  own  way.  The 
condition  imposed  by  the  bill  denied  her  that  right. 

Mr.  Wade  disliked  the  proposition  as  it  stood,  because 
it  was  very  objectionable  to  him  "  to  say  that  a  man  born  on 
the  4th  day  of  July,  1863,  shall  be  free,  and  one  born  the  day 
before  shall  be  forever  a  slave."  "  I  should  much  prefer," 
he  ad  led,  "  to  have  it  graduated  so  that  all  born  after  the 
adoption  of  this  constitution  shall  be  free,  and  that  all  between 
certain  ages  shall  be  free  at  a  certain  period."  At  this  point 
Simmer's  amendment  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  24  to  n. 

Mr.  Carlile,  of  Virginia,  who  was  foremost  in  organizing 
resistance  to  secession,  had  from  the  beginning  assumed  the 
appearance  of  a  friend,  but,  after  giving  direction  to  the  move 
ment  for  separation,  acted  as  an  adversary  to  the  new  State; 
he  opposed  all  conditions  on  its  admission  and  expressed  a 
preference  that  it  be  permitted  to  enter  on  the  constitution 
submitted  by  its  people.  He  would  never  "  consent  to  have 
the  organic  law  of  a  State  framed  for  its  people  by  the  Con- 


in    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

gress  of  the  United  States."  There  were  47,000  voters  in 
the  counties  to  be  embraced  within  the  proposed  State;  of 
that  number  only  about  19,000  had  voted  on  the  constitution. 
At  the  last  moment  he  delivered  with  his  usual  eloquence  a 
strong  argument  against  admission.  An  amendment  which 
he  submitted  would  have  the  effect  certainly  to  postpone, 
perhaps  altogether  to  defeat,  the  measure  in  the  Senate.  Fail 
ing  to  secure  its  adoption,  he  urged  a  postponement  till  De 
cember  following;  this  motion,  however,  was  voted  down. 

So  surprised  were  his  associates  at  this  unexpected  opposi 
tion  that  they  inquired  pointedly  why  these  belated  argu 
ments  had  not  been  presented  to  the  Committee  on  Terri 
tories  when  the  measure  was  before  them.  Mr.  Wade,  its 
chairman,  was  especially  severe  in  his  condemnation  of  Car- 
lile's  extraordinary  course,  for  it  was  the  reasoning  of  the 
Virginia  Senator  that  had  won  their  support;  he  had  searched 
the  precedents  and  submitted  cheerfully  to  all  the  labors  im 
posed  by  the  Committee.  Now  by  his  opposition  he  brought 
everything  to  a  stand-still. 

His  colleague,  Mr.  Willey,  who  had  been  converted  in  a 
rather  advanced  stage  of  the  movement,  declared  that  it  was 
not  the  desire  to  be  free  from  that  part  of  the  Commonwealth 
in  rebellion  that  was  responsible  for  the  present  attitude  of 
western  Virginia;  the  insurrection  only  precipitated  the  at 
tempt  to  settle  a  controversy  which  was  older  than  he.  To 
enforce  his  remarks  he  added  that  great  numbers  of  her  citi 
zens  had  determined  to  fix  their  abodes  elsewhere  unless 
West  Virginia  became  an  independent  State.  During  this 
discussion  the  Senate  had  before  it  the  constitution  framed 
by  the  convention  which  met  November  26,  1861,  in  the  city 
of  Wheeling. 

After  a  vigorous  address  by  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  who  had 
recently  investigated  the  subject,  and  whose  ardor  had  been 
aroused  by  a  deputation  of  West  Virginians  then  in  Wash- 


VIRGINIA  1x3 

ington,  the  bill  by  a  vote  of  23  to  17  passed  the  Senate, 
July  14,  I862.1 

By  Mr.  Brown,  of  Virginia,  a  similar  measure  had  already 
been  introduced  into  the  House  on  June  25.  It  was  read 
twice  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories.2  When 
called  up  on  July  16  succeeding  it  was  agreed  to  postpone 
consideration  of  the  bill  until  the  regular  session  in  De 
cember,3  and  on  the  gth  of  that  month,  when  Representative 
Bingham  asked  that  it  be  put  on  its  passage,  discussion  of 
the  subject  was  resumed. 

Representative  Conway  said  that  if  the  application  of 
West  Virginia  came  in  the  proper  manner  he  would  be  happy 
to  vote  for  its  admission;  he  regretted,  however,  that  at 
the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  a  territorial  government  had 
not  been  organized  there;  Congress  could  then  have  passed 
an  enabling  act,  and  the  State  could  be  received  in  a  manner 
to  admit  of  no  dispute.  The  question  turned,  he  declared, 
on  whether  the  State  of  Virginia,  of  which  a  Mr.  Pierpont 
was  G(\/ernor,  was  the  lawful  State.  This  he  denied.  A 
number  of  persons  without  authority  met  at  Wheeling  and 
organized  a  government.  This  establishment  the  President 
had  recognized;  one  branch  of  Congress  by  admitting  its 
Senators  had  also  conceded  its  legality.  These  precedents, 
however,  should  not  be  binding  on  the  House.  Neither  mobs 
nor  mass-meetings,  he  asserted,  make  laws  under  our  sys 
tem,  and  such  bodies  had  no  authority  to  appoint  Mr. 
Pierpont. 

The  President  intended,  Mr.  Conway  believed,  to  form 
similar  organizations  in  all  the  seceded  States.  "  A  policy 
seems  about  to  be  inaugurated,"  he  added,  "  looking  to  an 
assumption  of  State  powers  by  a  few  individuals,  wherever 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  2  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  864 ;    Part  IV.,  pp.  2941-2942, 
3034-3039,  3134-3135,  3307-3320. 
a  Globe,  2  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  2933.  8  Ibid.,  p.  3397. 


ii4    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

a  military  or  other  encampment  can  be  effected  in  any  of  the 
rebellious  districts.  The  utter  and  flagrant  unconstitution 
ally  of  this  scheme  —  I  may  say,  its  radically  revolutionary 
character  —  ought  to  expose  it  to  the  reprobation  of  every 
loyal  citizen  and  every  member  of  this  House.  It  aims  at  an 
utter  subversion  of  our  constitutional  system.  Its  effect 
would  be  to  consolidate  all  the  powers  of  the  Government 
in  the  hands  of  the  Executive.  With  the  admission  of  this 
new  State,  the  President  will  have  substantially  created  four 
Senators  —  two  for  Virginia  and  two  for  West  Virginia." 
In  referring  to  an  extension  of  this  system  he  declared  that 
the  President  and  a  few  friends  could  exercise  Federal  au 
thority  in  all  those  States.  "  The  true  policy  of  this  Govern 
ment,  therefore,  with  regard  to  the  seceded  States,  is  to  hold 
them  as  common  territory  wherever  and  whenever  our  arms 
are  extended  over  them.  This  obviates  the  terrible  dangers 
which  I  have  alluded  to,  and  is  in  harmony  with  the  highest 
considerations  of  public  utility,  as  well  as  with  sound  legal 
principles."  1 

Mr.  Conway  directed  his  criticisms  against  the  President 
because  he  believed  the  Executive  was  first  to  recognize 
the  new  government.  The  action  of  the  Senate  was  based 
upon  this  precedent,  it  being  assumed  that  recognition  was 
an  Executive  function- 
Mr.  Brown,  who  introduced  the  bill  at  the  preceding 
session,  related  concisely  the  essential  facts  already  placed 
before  the  reader.  He  reminded  Representative  Conway 
that,  though  a  State  could  not  commit  treason,  or  any  other 
crime,  the  officials  of  government  could  do  so;  that  the  legis 
lative  powers,  being  incapable  of  annihilation,  returned  to  the 
people;  that  the  spontaneous  assembly  at  Wheeling  merely 
organized  and  proposed  a  plan  by  which  regular  elections 
were  to  be  held  to  fill  vacancies  caused  by  the  withdrawal  of 
1  Globe,  Part  L,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  37-38. 


VIRGINIA  115 

disloyal  representatives.  A  day  was  fixed,  and  wherever 
throughout  the  State  loyal  citizens  chose  to  hold  an  election 
they  could  do  so.  The  body  thus  elected  assumed  the  legisla 
tive  functions  of  the  people. 

In  answer  to  an  inquiry  he  replied  that  about  five  counties 
outside  of  West  Virginia  were  represented  in  the  Legislature 
which  consented  to  the  erection  of  the  new  State,  and  all 
the  counties  in  the  State  were  expressly  invited  to  send  rep 
resentatives  to  the  General  Assembly.  If  they  were  loyal 
they  should  have  cooperated;  if  not,  they  should  have  no 
voice  in  either  the  State  Legislature  or  Congress.  He  re 
ferred  in  his  remarks  to  a  telegram  which  he  had  that  morn 
ing  received  from  Wheeling.  It  contained  a  resolution 
passed  by  the  Assembly  asking  the  House  of  Representatives 
to  approve  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  West  Virginia,  which 
had  been  favorably  acted  upon  by  the  Senate  at  the  preceding 
session. 

"  It  has  been  asserted,"  he  said  in  conclusion,  "  and  under 
stood  in  some  quarters,  that  the  organization  of  the  govern 
ment  at  Wheeling  was  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  new 
State.  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  when  the  convention 
originally  met  in  Wheeling,  although  there  were  a  few 
radicals  there  who  wanted  to  form  a  new  State  without  rein 
stating  the  old  State  of  Virginia,  we  voted  them  down,  and 
commenced  the  exercise  of  our  original  rights  as  freemen  to 
build  up  the  loyal  government  of  Virginia;  and  although 
we  designed  eventually  to  ask  for  this  separation,  and  it  was 
what  we  anxiously  desired,  yet  we  determined  to  be  a  law- 
abiding  people,  and  ask  for  what  we  desired  through  the 
forms  of  law."  * 

Representative  Colfax  in  giving  the  reasons  which  should 
govern  his  vote  stated  that  the  restored  government  had 
been  recognized  by  the  Senate,  by  the  President  as  well  as 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  38-39,  41-42. 


u6    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

other  executive  officers,  and  that  the  House,  by  admitting 
Mr.  Segar,  elected  pursuant  to  a  proclamation  of  Governor 
Pierpont,  had  also  recognized  the  reorganized  State.  Even 
the  political  party  in  opposition  voted  for  that  member's  ad 
mission.  He  also  remarked  that  the  new  State  came  knock 
ing  at  the  door  for  admission  with  the  tiara  of  freedom  on 
her  brow.1 

Mr.  Olin,  who  opposed  the  bill  at  the  preceding  session, 
said :  "  I  shall  vote  for  it  now  with  reluctance.  I  shall  vote 
for  it  mainly  upon  the  ground  that  the  General  Government, 
whether  wisely  or  unwisely  I  will  not  undertake  to  say,  has 
encouraged  this  movement  to  create  a  division  of  the  State 
of  Virginia."  2  The  people  of  West  Virginia,  with  their  ex 
perience  of  the  evils  which  slavery  brought  on  them,  should 
not  have  permitted  that  institution  to  exist  for  an  hour  in 
their  new  government.  For  this  deficiency,  however,  the  bill 
provided  a  partial  remedy. 

Crittenden  observed  that  it  was  the  party  applying  for  ad 
mission  that  gave  its  consent  to  a  division  of  the  State.3  To 
this  objection  Representative  Blair  replied  that  there  were 
counties  outside  of  West  Virginia  which  had  assented  to  dis 
memberment.  Other  members,  who  had  hitherto  been  hos 
tile,  now  consented  to  support  the  measure  from  a  conviction 
that  it  would  weaken  rebellion. 

Representative  Dawes  said  that  the  primary  elections  which 
sent  delegates  to  the  Wheeling  convention  discussed  not  a 
reorganization  of  the  Virginia  government,  but  the  formation 
of  an  independent  State  in  western  Virginia.  To  accomplish 
that,  he  said,  the  only  way  was  to  restore  the  government  of 
the  entire  Commonwealth.  That  government  then  had  two 
things  to  do :  to  set  up  a  new  State  within  itself  and  secondly 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  43-45. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  46. 
'  Ibid.,  pp.  46-47. 


VIRGINIA  117 

to  give  its  consent  thereto.    This  suggestion,  he  understood, 
emanated  from  Washington.1 

In  reference  to  the  admission,  Thaddeus  Stevens  said : 

I  do  not  desire  to  be  understood  as  being  deluded  by  the  idea  that  we 
are  admitting  this  State  in  pursuance  of  any  provisions  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  I  find  no  such  provision  that  justifies  it,  and  the  argument  in  favor 
of  the  constitutionality  of  it  is  one  got  up  by  those  who  either  honestly 
entertain,  I  think,  an  erroneous  opinion,  or  who  desire  to  justify,  by  a 
forced  construction,  an  act  which  they  have  predetermined  to  do. 


Now,  to  say  that  the  Legislature  which  called  this  seceding  convention 
was  not  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  is  asserting  that  the  Legislature 
chosen  by  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  a  State  is  not  the  Legislature 
of  that  State.  That  is  a  doctrine  which  I  can  never  assent  to.  I  admit 
that  the  Legislature  were  disloyal,  but  they  were  still  the  disloyal  and 
traitorous  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Virginia ;  and  the  State,  as  a  mere 
State,  was  bound  by  their  acts.  Not  so  individuals.  They  are  respon 
sible  to  the  General  Government,  and  are  responsible  whether  the  State 
decrees  treason  or  not.  That  being  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  Governor 
Letcher,  elected  by  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  people,  is  the  Governor 
of  Virginia  —  a  traitor  in  rebellion,  but  a  traitorous  governor  of  a  traitor 
ous  State.  Now,  then,  how  has  that  State  ever  given  its  consent  to  this 
division?  A  highly  respectable  but  very  small  number  of  the  citizens  of 
Virginia  —  the  people  of  West  Virginia  —  assembled  together,  disap 
proved  of  the  acts  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  with  the  utmost  self- 
complacency  called  themselves  Virginia. 

I  hold  that  none  of  the  States  now  in  rebellion  are  entitled  to  the  pro 
tection  of  the  Constitution,  and  I  am  grieved  when  I  hear  those  high  in 
authority  sometimes  talking  of  the  constitutional  difficulties  about  en 
forcing  measures  against  this  belligerent  power,  and  the  next  moment 
disregarding  every  vestige  and  semblance  of  the  Constitution  by  acts 
which  alone  are  arbitrary.  I  hope  I  do  not  differ  with  the  Executive  in 
the  views  which  I  advocate.  But  I  see  the  Executive  one  day  saying  "  you 
shall  not  take  the  property  of  rebels  to  pay  the  debts  which  the  rebels 
have  brought  upon  the  Northern  States."  Why?  Because  the  Constitu 
tion  is  in  the  way.  And  the  next  day  I  see  him  appointing  a  military 
governor  of  Virginia,  a  military  governor  of  Tennessee,  and  some  other 
places.  Where  does  he  find  anything  in  the  Constitution  to  warrant 
that? 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  3;th  Cong.,  p.  48, 


n8    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

If  he  must  look  there  alone  for  authority,  then  all  these  acts  are  flagrant 
usurpations,  deserving  the  condemnation  of  the  community.  He  must 
agree  with  me  or  else  his  acts  are  as  absurd  as  they  are  unlawful ;  for  I 
see  him  here  and  there  ordering  elections  for  members  of  Congress  wher 
ever  he  finds  a  little  collection  of  three  or  four  consecutive  plantations 
in  the  rebel  States,  in  order  that  men  may  be  sent  in  here  to  control  the 
proceedings  of  this  Congress,  just  as  we  sanctioned  the  election  held  by 
a  few  people  at  a  little  watering  place  at  Fortress  Monroe,  by  which  we 
have  here  the  very  respectable  and  estimable  member  from  that  locality 
with  us.  It  was  upon  the  same  principle. 

...  I  say,  then,  that  we  may  admit  West  Virginia  as  a  new  State, 
not  by  virtue  of  any  provision  of  the  Constitution,  but  under  our  absolute 
power  which  the  laws  of  war  give  us  in  the  circumstances  in  which  we 
are  placed.  I  shall  vote  for  this  bill  upon  that  theory,  and  upon  that 
alone ;  for  I  will  not  stultify  myself  by  supposing  that  we  have  any  war 
rant  in  the  Constitution  for  this  proceeding. 

The  Union,  he  declared,  could  never  be  restored  as  it  was. 
His  consent  would  never  be  given  to  restore  it  with  a  con 
stitutional  provision  protecting  slavery.  An  additional  rea 
son  for  giving  his  vote  in  favor  of  the  bill  was  that  there  was 
a  provision  which  would  make  West  Virginia  a  free  State.1 

"  No  right  of  persons,  no  right  of  property/'  said  Mr. 
Noell,  "  no  social  or  domestic  affairs,  could  be  regulated  or 
controlled  by  the  people  of  western  Virginia,  under  the  cir 
cumstances  in  which  they  were  placed,  without  recognizing 
the  ordinance  of  secession,  and  acting  as  a  State  within  the 
Southern  Confederacy."  2  This  showed  both  the  necessity  of 
reorganizing  the  government  of  Virginia  and  the  recognition 
by  Federal  authorities  of  the  establishment  so  constituted. 

Mr.  Segar  declared  that  eleven  of  the  forty-eight  counties 
to  comprise  the  new  State  had  not  participated  in  its  estab 
lishment,  being  represented  neither  in  the  reorganized  Legis 
lature  nor  the  Wheeling*  convention;  three  others  were  un 
represented  both  in  the  House  of  Delegates  and  the  conven 
tions;  ten  cast  no  vote  on  the  constitution  and  three  had  in- 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  50-51. 
'Ibid.,  p.  35. 


VIRGINIA  119 

terests,  social  and  commercial,  which  bound  them  up  with  the 
East.  Then,  too,  the  people  of  West  Virginia  made  a  funda 
mental  law  recognizing  slavery;  an  anti-slavery  constitution 
was  to  be  imposed  on  them  as  a  condition  of  admission.1 

An  able  argument  by  Representative  Bingham,  of  Ohio, 
who  had  charge  of  the  bill,  concluded  the  debate  on  December 
10,  1862,  when  it  passed  by  96  yeas  to  55  nays.2 

With  the  President  rested  the  fate  of  this  important  meas 
ure:  if  he  vetoed  it  there  would,  probably,  not  be  found  a  two 
thirds  majority  in  its  support.  Many  members,  as  will  be 
seen  from  the  preceding  abridgment  of  the  debates,  yielded 
only  a  reluctant  support. 

On  December  23,  1862,  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  to  his  constitu 
tional  advisers  the  following  note : 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CABINET  : 

A  bill  for  an  act  entitled  "  An  act  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of 
West  Virginia  into  the  Union  and  for  other  purposes  "  has  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate,  and  has  been  duly  presented 
to  me  for  my  action. 

I  respectfully  ask  of  each  of  you  an  opinion  in  writing  on  the  follow 
ing  questions,  to  wit : 

1st.  Is  the  said  act  constitutional? 

2d.  Is  the  said  act  expedient  ?  * 

To  this  request  six  members  of  the  Cabinet  responded  by 
submitting  their  written  opinions.  Three  —  Seward,  Stan- 
ton  and  Chase  —  answered  both  questions  in  the  affirmative. 
Bates,  Blair  and  Welles  replied  in  the  negative;  the  remaining 
place  in  the  Cabinet  was  vacant  owing  to  the  resignation  of 
Caleb  B.  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  who  had  been  raised 
to  the  Bench  in  Indiana.  His  successor  had  not  yet  been 
appointed. 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  54-55. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  59. 

8  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  283. 


120    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Upon  the  constitutional  point  Mr.  Seward  said :  "  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  political  body  which  has  given  consent  in  this 
case  is  really  and  incontestably  the  State  of  Virginia.  So 
long  as  the  United  States  do  not  recognize  the  secession,  de 
parture,  or  separation  of  one  of  the  States,  that  State  must 
be  deemed  as  existing  and  having  a  constitutional  place  within 
the  Union,  whatever  may  be  at  any  moment  exactly  its  revo 
lutionary  condition.  A  State  thus  situated  cannot  be  deemed 
to  be  divided  into  two  or  more  States  merely  by  any  revolu 
tionary  proceeding  which  may  have  occurred,  because  there 
cannot  be,  constitutionally,  two  or  more  States  of  Virginia. 
.  .  .  The  newly  organized  State  of  Virginia  is  there 
fore,  at  this  moment,  by  the  express  consent  of  the  United 
States,  invested  with  all  the  rights  of  the  State  of  Virginia, 
and  charged  with  all  the  powers,  privileges,  and  dignity  of 
that  State.  If  the  United  States  allow  to  that  organization 
any  of  these  rights,  powers,  and  privileges,  it  must  be  allowed 
to  possess  and  enjoy  them  all.  If  it  be  a  State  competent  to 
be  represented  in  Congress  and  bound  to  pay  taxes,  it  is  a 
State  competent  to  give  the  required  consent  of  the  State  to 
the  formation  and  erection  of  the  new  State  of  West  Virginia 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia." 

"  Upon  the  question  of  expediency,"  he  wrote,  "  I  am  de 
termined  by  two  considerations.  First.  The  people  of  West 
ern  Virginia  will  be  safer  from  molestation  for  their  loyalty, 
because  better  able  to  protect  and  defend  themselves  as  a  new 
and  separate  State  than  they  would  be  if  left  to  demoralizing 
uncertainty  upon  the  question  whether,  in  the  progress  of  the 
war,  they  may  not  be  again  reabsorbed  in  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  subjected  to  severities  as  a  punishment  for  their 
present  devotion  to  the  Union.  The  first  duty  of  the  United 
States  is  protection  to  loyalty  wherever  it  is  found.  Second. 
I  am  of  opinion  that  the  harmony  and  peace  of  the  Union 
will  be  promoted  by  allowing  the  new  State  to  be  formed  and 


VIRGINIA  121 

erected,  which  will  assume  jurisdiction  over  that  part  of  the 
valley  of  the  Ohio  which  lies  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio 
River,  displacing,  in  a  constitutional  and  lawful  manner,  the 
jurisdiction  heretofore  exercised  there  by  a  political  power 
concentrated  at  the  head  of  the  James  River."  1 

Mr.  Chase,  in  discussing  the  constitutional  question,  said  in 
part :  "  The  Madison  Papers  clearly  show  that  the  consent  of 
the  Legislature  of  the  original  State  was  the  only  consent  re 
quired  to  the  erection  and  formation  of  a  new  State  within  its 
jurisdiction.  That  consent  having  been  given,  the  consent 
of  the  new  State,  if  required,  is  proved  by  her  application  for 
admission.  .  .  .  The  Legislature  of  Virginia,  it  may 
be  admitted,  did  not  contain  many  members  from  the  eastern 
counties;  it  contained,  however,  representatives  from  all  coun 
ties  whose  inhabitants  were  not  either  rebels  themselves,  or 
dominated  by  greater  numbers  of  rebels.  It  was  the  only 
Legislature  of  the  State  known  to  the  Union.  If  its  consent 
was  not  valid,  no  consent  could  be.  If  its  consent  was  not 
valid,  the  Constitution,  as  to  the  people  of  West  Virginia, 
has  been  so  suspended  by  the  rebellion  that  a  mo'St  important 
right  under  it  is  utterly  lost." 

Relative  to  the  question  of  expediency,  he  writes :  "  The 
act  is  almost  universally  regarded  as  of  vital  importance  to 
their  welfare  by  the  loyal  people  most  immediately  interested, 
and  it  has  received  the  sanction  of  large  majorities  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress.  These  facts  afford  strong  presumptions 
of  expediency.  ...  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  the 
admission  of  West  Virginia  will  draw  after  it  the  necessity 
of  admitting  other  States  under  the  consent  of  extemporized 
legislatures  assuming  to  act  for  whole  States,  though  really 
representing  no  important  part  of  their  territory.  I  think  this 
necessity  imaginary.  There  is  no  such  legislature,  nor  is 
there  likely  to  be.  No  such  legislature,  if  extemporized,  is 

1  Quoted  in  N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VI.  pp.  300-301. 


122    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

likely  to  receive  the  recognition  of  Congress  or  the  Execu 
tive."  1 

Mr.  Stanton  responded  more  briefly  than  either  Secretary 
Seward  or  Secretary  Chase,  observing,  among  other  things : 
"  I  have  been  unable  to  perceive  any  point  on  which  the  act  of 
Congress  conflicts  with  the  Constitution.  By  the  erection  of  the 
new  State,  the  geographical  boundary  heretofore  existing 
between  the  free  and  slave  States  will  be  broken,  and  the 
advantage  of  this  upon  every  point  of  consideration  surpasses 
all  objections  which  have  occurred  to  me  on  the  question  of 
expediency.  Many  prophetic  dangers  and  evils  might  be 
specified,  but  it  is  safe  to  suppose  that  those  who  come  after 
us  will  be  as  wise  as  ourselves,  and  if  what  we  deem  evils 
be  really  such,  they  will  be  avoided.  The  present  good  is  real 
and  substantial,  the  future  may  safely  be  left  in  the  care  of 
those  whose  duty  and  interest  may  be  involved  in  any  possible 
future  measures  of  legislation."  2 

One  or  two  excerpts  from  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Welles  will 
indicate  the  course  of  his  argument  in  the  negative :  "  Under 
existing  necessities,  an  organization  of  the  loyal  citizens,  or  of 
a  portion  of  them,  has  been  recognized,  and  its  Senators  and 
Representatives  admitted  to  seats  in  Congress.  Yet  we  can 
not  close  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  fragment  of  the  State 
which,  in  the  revolutionary  tumult,  has  instituted  the  new 
organization,  is  not  possessed  of  the  records,  archives, 
symbols,  traditions,  or  capital  of  the  Commonwealth.  Though 
calling  itself  the  State  of  Virginia,  it  does  not  assume  the 
debts  and  obligations  contracted  prior  to  the  existing  difficul 
ties.  Is  this  organization,  then,  really  and  in  point  of  fact  any 
thing  else  than  a  provisional  government  for  the  State?  It 
is  composed  almost  entirely  of  those  loyal  citizens  who  reside 
beyond  the  mountains,  and  within  the  prescribed  limits  of  the 

1  Quoted  in  N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VI.  pp.  302-303. 
'  Ibid.!  p.  304. 


VIRGINIA  123 

proposed  new  State.  In  this  revolutionary  period,  there  being 
no  contestants,  we  are  compelled  to  recognize  the  organization 
as  Virginia.  Whether  that  would  be  the  case,  and  how  the 
question  would  be  met  and  disposed  of,  were  the  insurrection 
this  day  abandoned,  need  not  now  be  discussed.  Were  Vir 
ginia,  or  those  parts  of  it  not  included  in  the  proposed  new 
State,  invaded  and  held  in  temporary  subjection  by  a  foreign 
enemy  instead  of  the  insurgents,  the  fragment  of  territory  and 
population  which  should  successfully  repel  the  enemy  and 
adhere  to  the  Union  would  doubtless,  during  such  temporary 
subjection,  be  recognized,  and  properly  recognized,  as  Vir 
ginia.  When,  however,  this  loyal  fragment  goes  farther,  and 
not  only  declares  itself  to  be  Virginia,  but  proceeds  by  its 
own  act  to  detach  itself  permanently  and  forever  from  the 
Commonwealth,  and  to  erect  itself  into  a  new  State  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  the  question  arises 
whether  this  proceeding  is  regular,  legal,  right,  and,  in  honest 
good  faith,  conformable  to,  and  within  the  letter  and  spirit 
of  the  Constitution.  .  .  .  Congress  may  admit  new 
States  into  the  Union;  but  any  attempt  to  dismember  or  divide 
a  State  by  any  forced  or  unauthorized  assumption  would  be 
an  inexpedient  exercise  of  doubtful  power  to  the  injury  of 
such  State.  Were  there  no  question  of  doubtful  constitu 
tionality  in  the  movement,  the  time  selected  for  the  division  of 
the  State  is  most  inopportune.  It  is  a  period  of  civil  commo 
tion,  when  unity  and  concerted  action  on  the  part  of  all  loyal 
citizens  and  authorities  should  be  directed  to  a  restoration 
of  the  Union,  and  all  tendency  towards  disintegration  and 
demoralization  avoided/' 1 

Mr.  Blair,  likewise  in  the  negative,  added  little  of  impor 
tance  to  what  Secretary  Welles  had  adduced  on  that  side. 

The  first  and  rather  hastily  formed  opinion  of  Attorney- 
General  Bates  has  already  been  given  together  with  an  account 

1  Quoted  in  N.  &  H.,  Vol.  VI.  pp.  304-306. 


124    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  the  circumstances  attending  its  publication;  upon  longer 
reflection  he  did  not  greatly  change  the  ground  of  his  original 
convictions  and  in  an  elaborate  discussion  still  reasoned  in  the 
negative.1 

Between  these  evenly  balanced  and  conflicting  opinions  of 
his  advisers  Mr.  Lincoln  argued  as  follows : 

The  consent  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia  is  constitutionally  necessary 
to  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  West  Virginia  becoming  a  law.  A  body 
claiming  to  be  such  legislature  has  given  its  consent.  We  cannot  well 
deny  that  it  is  such,  unless  we  do  so  upon  the  outside  knowledge  that  the 
body  was  chosen  at  elections  in  which  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters 
of  Virginia  did  not  participate.  But  it  is  a  universal  practice  in  the  popu 
lar  elections  in  all  these  States  to  give  no  legal  consideration  whatever 
to  those  who  do  not  choose  to  vote,  as  against  the  effect  of  the  votes  of 
those  who  do  choose  to  vote.  Hence  it  is  not  the  qualified  voters,  but 
the  qualified  voters  who  choose  to  vote  that  constitute  the  political  power 
of  the  State.  Much  less  than  to  non-voters  should  any  consideration  be 
given  to  those  who  did  not  vote  in  this  case,  because  it  is  also  matter 
of  outside  knowledge  that  they  were  not  merely  neglectful  of  their  rights 
under  and  duty  to  this  government,  but  were  also  engaged  in  open  rebel 
lion  against  it.  Doubtless  among  these  non-voters  were  some  Union  men 
whose  voices  were  smothered  by  the  more  numerous  secessionists;  but 
we  know  too  little  of  their  number  to  assign  them  any  appreciable  value. 
Can  this  government  stand,  if  it  indulges  constitutional  constructions  by 
which  men  in  open  rebellion  against  it  are  to  be  accounted,  man  for  man, 
the  equals  of  those  who  maintain  their  loyalty  to  it?  Are  they  to  be 
accounted  even  better  citizens,  and  more  worthy  of  consideration,  than 
those  who  merely  neglect  to  vote?  If  so,  their  treason  against  the  Con 
stitution  enhances  their  constitutional  value.  Without  braving  these  ab 
surd  conclusions,  we  cannot  deny  that  the  body  which  consents  to  the 
admission  of  West  Virginia  is  the  legislature  of  Virginia.  I  do  not  think 
the  plural  form  of  the  words  "  legislatures  "  and  "  States  "  in  the  phrase 
of  the  Constitution  "  without  the  consent  of  the  legislatures  of  the  States 
concerned,"  etc.,  has  any  reference  to  the  new  State  concerned.  That 
plural  form  sprang  from  the  contemplation  of  two  or  more  old  States  con 
tributing  to  form  a  new  one.  The  idea  that  the  new  State  was  in  danger 
of  being  admitted  without  its  own  consent  was  not  provided  against, 
because  it  was  not  thought  of,  as  I  conceive.  It  is  said,  the  devil  takes 
care  of  his  own.  Much  more  should  a  good  spirit  —  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union  —  take  care  of  its  own.  I  think  it  cannot  do 
less  and  live. 

1  See  pp.  105-106  ante. 


VIRGINIA  125 

But  is  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  West  Virginia  expedient?  This, 
in  my  general  view,  is  more  a  question  for  Congress  than  for  the  Execu 
tive.  Still  I  do  not  evade  it.  More  than  on  anything  else,  it  depends  on 
whether  the  admission  or  rejection  of  the  new  State  would,  under  all  the 
circumstances,  tend  the  more  strongly  to  the  restoration  of  the  national 
authority  throughout  the  Union.  That  which  helps  most  in  this  direction 
is  the  most  expedient  at  this  time.  Doubtless  those  in  remaining  Virginia 
would  return  to  the  Union,  so  to  speak,  less  reluctantly  without  the  divi 
sion  of  the  old  State  than  with  it ;  but  I  think  we  could  not  save  as  much 
in  this  quarter  by  rejecting  the  new  State,  as  we  should  lose  by  it  in  West 
Virginia.  We  can  scarcely  dispense  with  the  aid  of  West  Virginia  in 
this  struggle;  much  less  can  we  afford  to  have  her  against  us,  in  Con 
gress  and  in  the  field.  Her  brave  and  good  men  regard  her  admission 
into  the  Union  as  a  matter  of  life  and  death.  They  have  been  true  to  the 
Union  under  very  severe  trials.  We  have  so  acted  as  to  justify  their 
hopes,  and  we  cannot  fully  retain  their  confidence  and  cooperation  if  we 
seem  to  break  faith  with  them.  In  fact,  they  could  not  do  so  much  for  us, 
if  they  would.  Again,  the  admission  of  the  new  State  turns  that  much 
slave  soil,  to  free,  and  thus  is  a  certain  and  irrevocable  encroachment 
upon  the  cause  of  the  rebellion.  The  division  of  a  State  is  dreaded  as  a 
precedent.  But  a  measure  made  expedient  by  a  war  is  no  precedent  for 
times  of  peace.  It  is  said  that  the  admission  of  West  Virginia  is  seces 
sion,  and  tolerated  only  because  it  is  our  secession.  Well,  if  we  call  it  by 
that  name,  there  is  still  difference  enough  between  secession  against  the 
Constitution  and  secession  in  favor  of  the  Constitution.  I  believe  the 
admission  of  West  Virginia  into  the  Union  is  expedient.1 

The  bill  passed  by  the  House  on  the  loth  was  approved 
by  the  President  on  the  3ist  of  December,  1862;  after  nam 
ing  the  forty-eight  counties  to  constitute  the  new  State  the 
act  declares,  among  other  things,  that  since  the  convention 
framed  the  constitution  for  West  Virginia  its  people  had 
expressed  a  wish  to  change  section  seven  of  the  eleventh  article 
by  inserting  the  following  in  its  place,  vis.:  "  The  children  of 
slaves  born  within  the  limits  of  this  State  after  the  fourth  day 
of  July,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-three,  shall  be  free;  and 
that  all  slaves  within  the  said  State  who  shall,  at  the  time 
aforesaid,  be  under  the  age  of  ten  years,  shall  be  free  when 
they  arrive  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years ;  and  all  slaves  over 
ten  and  under  twenty-one  years,  shall  be  free  when  they  arrive 
1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  285-287. 


126    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years;  and  no  slave  shall  be  permitted 
to  come  into  the  State  for  permanent  residence  therein."  * 

The  constitution  thus  amended  was  unanimously  ratified  by 
the  convention,  which  on  a  summons  of  the  commissioners 
reassembled  February  18,  1863,  and  also  by  the  people,  to 
whom  it  was  submitted  at  an  election  held  on  May  26  follow 
ing.2  President  Lincoln  on  April  20  issued  a  proclamation 
declaring  that  the  prescribed  conditions  having  been  com 
plied  with,  the  constitution  would  go  into  force  in  sixty  days 
from  that  date;  the  formation  of  the  new  State  was  com 
plete  and  it  became  a  member  of  the  Union  on  the  2Oth  of 
June,  i863.3 

Daniel  Webster,  in  an  address  delivered  thirteen  years  be 
fore,  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  an  addition  to  the 
Federal  Capitol,  had  asked :  "  And  ye  men  of  Western  Vir 
ginia,  .  .  ,  what  benefit  do  you  propose  to  yourself  by 
disunion  ?  If  you  '  secede/  what  do  you  'secede '  from,  and 
what  do  you  '  accede '  to  ?  Do  you  look  for  the  current  of 
the  Ohio  to  change,  and  to  bring  you  and  your  commerce  to 
the  tide-waters  of  the  eastern  rivers?  What  man  in  his 
senses  can  suppose  that  you  would  remain  part  and  parcel  of 
Virginia  a  month  after  Virginia  should  have  ceased  to  be 
part  and  parcel  of  the  Union  ?  "  4  The  remarkable  prediction 
of  the  great  orator  was  fulfilled;  his  inspired  vision  had 
pierced  the  future.  The  Old  Dominion  had  separated  forever 
along  the  line  of  the  Alleghanies, 

Before  relating  the  subsequent  history  of  the  restored 
government,  it  is  proper  to  notice  a  few  important  events  in 
the  early  career  of  the  new  Commonwealth.  On  January 
31,  1863,  an  act  passed  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia 
giving  consent  to  the  transfer  of  Berkeley  County  to  the 

1  The  Formation  of  West  Virginia,  p.  152. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  192-193.  * 

*  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  326. 
•Webster's  Works,  Vol.  II.  pp.  607-608. 


VIRGINIA  127 

State  of  West  Virginia.  The  preamble  of  this  act  affirms 
that  its  people  desired  to  be  annexed  to  the  proposed  State. 
The  question  of  transfer,  however,  was  to  be  decided  by  a 
majority  of  voters  at  an  election  to  be  held  on  the  fourth 
Thursday  of  May.  If,  however,  the  polls  could  not  be  safely 
opened  on  that  day,  the  Governor  was  empowered  to  post 
pone  the  election  by  proclamation.  The  commissioners  who 
superintended  the  polling  were  to  certify  the  results  to  the 
Executive.  On  February  4  succeeding  another  act  made  it 
lawful  for  voters  in  certain  districts  including  twenty-three 
counties  to  declare,  at  a  general  election  to  be  held  on  the 
fourth  Thursday  of  May,  whether  these  specified  counties 
should  be  annexed  to  West  Virginia.  The  consent  of  the 
Legislature  of  that  State  was,  of  course,  made  a  condition  of 
the  transfer,  after  which  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia  over  such 
counties  was  to  cease. 

West  Virginia  statutes  of  August  5  and  November  2,  1863, 
in  words,  admit  Berkeley  and  Jefferson  counties,  and  they 
have  ever  since  been  under  her  jurisdiction.  When  admitted 
into  the  Union  it  was  with  a  provision  in  her  constitution 
that  she  might  acquire  additional  territory;  therefore  Con 
gress  gave  its  consent  in  advance  and  it  was  not  afterwards 
withdrawn.  In  brief,  West  Virginia  accepted  the  transfer 
and  it  was  authorized  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Com 
monwealth  of  Virginia.1 

1  By  a  joint  resolution,  approved  March  10,  1866,  Congress  agreed  that 
both  counties  formed  a  part  of  West  Virginia.  The  parent  State,  how 
ever,  by  an  act  of  December  5,  1865,  had  already  repealed  both  the  stat 
utes  of  January  31  and  February  4,  1863,  as  well  as  section  two  of  the  act 
of  May  13,  1862;  and  on  December  II,  1866,  a  bill  in  equity  was  filed  in 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the -United  States  in  which  it  was  contended  that 
it  was  not  the  intention  of  that  State  to  consent  to  the  annexation  of 
Berkeley  and  Jefferson  counties  except  upon  the  performance  of  certain 
conditions ;  the  state  of  the  county  on  election  day  was  such  as  not  to 
permit  the  opening  of  all  the  polls  in  Berkeley  and  Jefferson,  nor  indeed 
at  any  considerable  part  of  the  usual  election  places.  The  voters  did  not 


128    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

State  officers  were  elected  on  May  28,  when  the  following 
unconditional  Union  candidates,  receiving  a  vote  of  about 
30,000,  were  chosen  without  opposition :  Arthur  I.  Boreman, 
Governor;  J.  E.  Boyers,  Secretary  of  State;  Campbell  Tarr, 
Treasurer;  Samuel  Crane,  Auditor;  A.  B.  Caldwell,  Attorney- 
General;  also  three  judges  of  a  court  of  appeals. 

The  inauguration  of  the  new  State,  which  was  marked  by 
imposing  ceremonies,  took  place  at  Wheeling,  the  capital,  on 
June  20,  1863.  Mr.  Pierpont,  the  retiring  executive  of  reor 
ganized  Virginia,  briefly  addressed  the  assembled  citizens 
and  urged  them  not  to  forsake  the  flag;  he  then  introduced 
his  successor,  whom  he  pronounced  "  true  as  steel."  Gov 
ernor  Boreman  in  his  short  speech  said  that  the  only  terms  of 
peace  were  that  the  rebels  should  lay  down  their  arms  and 
submit  to  the  regularly  constituted  authority  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Legislature  of  West  Virginia  convened  on  the  same 
day.  Waitman  T.  Willey  and  P.  G.  Van  Winkle  were  elected 
United  States  Senators.1  In  his  first  message  Governor  Bore- 
man  recommended  to  the  General  Assembly  the  immediate 
passage  of  laws  effectually  to  extirpate  slavery,  and  also  the 
enactment  of  a  law  that  no  man  should  be  permitted  to  vote  or 
to  hold  office  until  he  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance. 

have  adequate  notice.  In  short,  a  great  majority  of  them  were  then  and 
now,  December,  1866,  opposed  to  annexation.  Other  irregularities  are 
alleged  in  the  complaint  of  Virginia.  A  decision,  however,  has  been  ren 
dered  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  favor  of  the  new 
Commonwealth.  [See  Virginia  vs.  West  Virginia,  n  Wall.,  p.  39;  also 
Transcripts  of  Records,  Supreme  Court  U.  S.,  Vol.  152,  December  Term, 
1870.] 

1  Notwithstanding  the  new  State  had  been  organized  by  a  law  which 
passed  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  was  approved  by  the  President,  Mr. 
Davis,  of  Kentucky,  when  the  members-elect  presented  themselves  before 
the  Senate,  opposed  their  admission  on  the  ground  that  there  was  legally 
and  constitutionally  no  such  State  in  existence  as  West  Virginia.  On  his 
motion  to  administer  the  customary  oath  thirty-six  Senators  voted  in  the 
affirmative,  five  in  the  negative.  [Globe,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1-3.] 


VIRGINIA  129 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1864,  the  first  held  since  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  in  which  any  State  deliberately 
neglected  to  appoint  electors,  33,680  votes  were  polled  in 
West  Virginia;  of  this  number  the  Union  ticket  received  23,- 
223  and  the  McClellan  electors  10,457. l  Elections  had  also 
been  held  in  Louisiana  and  Tennessee  by  authority  of  the 
governments  established  there  under  Mr.  Lincoln's  plan  of  re 
construction ;  the  Republican  majority  in  Congress,  however, 
denied  the  validity  of  the  organizations  in  the  two  States  last 
named  and  refused  to  count  the  votes  which  they  presented. 
This  question  will  be  fully  considered  when  we  come  to  trace 
the  development  of  the  Congressional  plan.  At  the  regular 
State  election  Governor  Boreman  was  chosen  without  opposi 
tion,  receiving  19,098  votes.  With  the  subsequent  history  of 
the  new  Commonwealth  the  subject  of  reconstruction  is  not 
much  concerned. 

By  the  formation  of  an  independent  Commonwealth  the 
counties  beyond  the  Alleghanies  were  withdrawn  from  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  restored  government,  which  after  the  in 
augural  ceremonies  at  Wheeling  selected  for  its  capital  the  city 
of  Alexandria,  where  it  continued  till  May  25,  1865,  to  exer 
cise  its  functions  in  those  parts  of  the  Old  Dominion  within 
the  lines  of  the  Union  army.  A  State  government  was 
promptly  organized  by  the  election  of  a  legislature  and  of  ex 
ecutive  officers.  In  this  establishment  the  loyal  eastern  counties 
participated.  Mr.  Pierpont  was  elected  Governor  for  the  term 
of  three  years  beginning  January  i,  1864.  A  Lieutenant-Go  v- 
ernor,  a  Secretary  of  State,  a  Treasurer,  an  Auditor,  an 
Adjutant-General  and  an  Attorney-General  were  also 
chosen. 

The  Governor  in  his  message  to  the  Assembly  mentioned 
slavery  as  doomed,  and  recommended  the  calling  of  a  con- 

1 A  History  of  Presidential  Elections,  Stanwood,  pp.  246-247.    Edition 
of  1884. 


130    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

vention  so  to  amend  the  State  constitution  as  to  abolish  the 
institution  forever.  In  compliance  with  this  suggestion  the 
Legislature,  on  December  21,  1863,  passed  an  act  directing  a 
convention  to  be  held  at  Alexandria  on  the  I3th  of  February 
succeeding  to  amend  the  constitution  and  prohibit  slavery  in 
the  counties  of  Accomac,  Northampton,  Princess  Ann,  Eliza 
beth  City  and  York  (including  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and 
Portsmouth) .  These  with  Berkeley  County  had  been  excepted 
from  the  operation  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 

None  but  loyal  citizens  who  had  not  assisted  the 
insurgents  since  January  i,  1863,  were  allowed  to  take  part, 
and  those  whose  right  to  vote  might  be  challenged  were 
required  to  swear  support  of  the  Constitution  and  to  declare 
that  they  had  not  in  any  way  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the 
enemy. 

The  convention,  consisting  of  sixteen  members,  assembled 
in  the  new  capital  at  the  appointed  time  and  remained  in 
session  till  April  n  following,  when  a  constitution  was 
adopted.1  Various  amendments,  relating  chiefly  to  the  regu 
lation  of  the  elective  franchise  and  to  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
were  discussed  and  agreed  upon.  The  work  of  this  miniature 
convention  was  ordered  to  be  proclaimed  without  a  submission 
to  the  people.  It  was  not,  however,  recognized  by  Congress, 
though  the  civil  government  which  authorized  its  formation 
was  permitted  to  continue  under  it,  provisionally  only,  and  in 
all  respects  subject  to  the  paramount  authority  of  the  United 
States  at  any  time  to  abolish,  modify,  or  supersede. 

Though  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  West  Virginia  passed 
both  Houses,  yet  Congress  was  by  no  means  unanimous  in 
giving  its  consent  to  that  measure.  In  the  debates,  of  which  a 
synopsis  has  been  given,  the  hostility  of  Thaddeus  Stevens 
and  other  influential  members  is  scarcely  concealed.  This 
opposition  to  executive  policy  slowly  gathered  strength,  and 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  809. 


VIRGINIA  131 

by  1863  had  become  formidable  enough  to  defeat  the  ad 
mission  of  Representatives  from  the  Alexandria  government. 
The  Senators,  however,  remained,  Lemuel  J.  Bowden  till  his 
death,  January  2,  1864,  when  his  successor  was  refused  ad 
mission,  and  John  S.  Carlile  till  the  expiration  of  his  term  in 
1865. 

On  the  assembling  of  the  38th  Congress,  which  commenced 
its  first  session  December  7,  1863,  Joseph  E.  Segar,  Lucius  H. 
Chandler  and  Benjamin  M.  Kitchen  appeared  as  Representa 
tives  from  Virginia.  On  May  17  succeeding  Mr.  Dawes  from 
the  Committee  of  Elections  reported  a  resolution  to  the  effect 
that  Joseph  E.  Segar,  from  the  First  District  of  Virginia,  was 
not  entitled  to  a  seat  in  that  Congress.  The  case  of  Mr. 
Chandler,  regarded  as  precisely  similar,  was  considered  at 
the  same  time. 

The  district  which  Mr.  Segar  claimed  to.  represent  was  com 
posed  of  twenty  counties;  of  these,  Chairman  Dawes  asserted, 
only  four  participated  in  the  election.  Polling  places  were  not 
opened  in  any  other  part  of  the  district,  the  Confederate  au 
thorities  being  in  possession  of  the  remaining  counties.  As 
there  could  be  no  free  exercise  of  the  franchise  in  this  situ 
ation  Mr.  Segar,  it  was  contended,  was  not  properly  chosen, 
and,  therefore,  was  not  entitled  to  a  seat.  The  vote  cast, 
though  not  accurately  ascertained,  was  estimated  at  1,677,  °f 
which  the  claimant  received  1,300.  Because  of  his  loyalty  and 
the  sacrifices  he  had  made,  the  Committee  regretted  the 
necessity  of  deciding  against  him. 

Mr.  Segar,  speaking  in  his  own  behalf,  reminded  the  House 
that  in  a  preceding  election,  when  he  received  559  out  of 
1,018  votes  polled  in  three  counties,  he  was  admitted  after  a 
delay  of  seven  or  eight  weeks;  but  when  he  was  sent  by  a 
larger  constituency  and  came  as  the  choice  of  four  counties 
he  was  informed  that  he  had  no  right  to  a  seat,  and  some  of  his 
colleagues  who  favored  his  admission  in  1862  voted  to  ex- 


1 32    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

elude  him.  The  Committee's  report,  he  asserted,  admitted  the 
existence  of  such  a  State  as  Virginia.  He  asked  Chairman 
Dawes  a  rather  embarrassing  question  when  he  inquired 
how  a  State  could  have  two  Senators  and  no  Representative 
in  Congress.  In  conclusion  he  pronounced  restored  State 
organization  and  gradual  accretion  to  be  the  best  method  of 
reconstruction. 

Concerning  the  title  of  Mr.  Chandler,  from  the  Second  Con 
gressional  District,  Chairman  Dawes  stated  that  of  the  779 
votes  polled  in  the  election  778  were  cast  for  the  claimant. 
For  the  same  reason  as  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Segar  only  a  small 
part  of  that  District  was  free  to  participate  in  the  election, 
and  nearly  all  the  votes  were  polled  in  the  city  of  Norfolk. 
The  committee  reported  against  his  admission  on  the  same 
ground  taken  in  Mr.  Segar's  case. 

Chandler,  who  was  permitted  to  state  his  case  to  the  House, 
cited  a  resolution  introduced  by  his  former  school-mate,  Owen 
Lovejoy,  the  well-known  abolitionist,  authorizing  the  names 
of  the  three  Virginia  claimants  to  be  enrolled  as  Representa 
tives.  That  resolution,  however,  was  tabled  and  their  cre 
dentials  referred  to  the  Committee  of  Elections. 

In  1860  the  Union  vote  in  his  District  was  only  6,712; 
of  that  number  2,900,  he  said,  were  in  Norfolk  and  Ports 
mouth;  the  latter  city  had  cast  more  votes  against  secession 
than  the  remainder  of  his  District.  Great  numbers  of  loyal 
men,  however,  left  there  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Electors 
being  under  no  obligation  to  vote  may  allow  an  election  to  go 
by  default  when  one  citizen  could  return  a  member  to  Con 
gress.  Territorially  restored  Virginia  was  larger  than  Dela 
ware  and  possessed  twice  the  area  of  Rhode  Island. 

The  case  of  Benjamin  M.  Kitchen,  on  which  the  Com 
mittee  had  previously  made  an  adverse  report,  differed  from 
those  of  the  other  two  claimants  in  that  he  had  received 
nearly  all  of  his  vote  in  Berkeley  County,  which  possessed  a 


VIRGINIA  133 

sort  of  wandering  character,  for  it  was  somewhat  uncer 
tain  whether  it  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  new  or 
the  old  State.  What  action  was  taken  on  the  Committee's 
report  does  not  appear,  but  it  may  be  inferred  from  a  facetious 
remark  of  one  member  who  observed  that,  like  Segar  and 
Chandler,  Kitchen  had  been  privileged  to  retire  to  private  life. 
The  two  former  were  refused  admission  by  the  decided  vote 
of  94  to  23. 

Besides  endeavoring  to  win  back  the  wavering,  Governor 
Pierpont  was  occupied  in  taking  measures  for  the  relief  of 
the  distressed.  In  the  vicinity  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth 
there  was  a  large  number  of  destitute  persons  whose  natural 
supporters  were  still  following  the  declining  fortunes  of  the 
Confederacy  or  had  been  killed  in  its  service.  While  it  was 
universally  agreed  that  their  necessities  should  be  relieved, 
the  military  and  civil  authorities  were  in  conflict  as  to  the 
mode  of  providing  for  them.  The  President  in  his  efforts  to 
establish  amicable  relations  between  the  officers  of  the  army 
and  those  of  the  State  invoked  the  assistance  of  the  Governor. 
As  the  restored  Commonwealth  could  not  be  consistently 
recognized  while  its  capital  was  in  a  state  of  blockade  the 
President  by  proclamation,  September  24,  1863,  declared  that 
the  interdiction  of  trade  with  the  port  of  Alexandria  had 
ceased. 

General  Butler  with  headquarters  at  Fortress  Monroe  took 
command  of  the  Department  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina 
November  2,  1863.  His  predecessors,  he  asserted,  had  en 
deavored  to  recruit  a  regiment  of  Virginians ;  but  after  several 
months  of  energetic  trial  their  efforts  were  abandoned.  As 
eastern  Virginia  claimed  to  be  a  loyal  and  fully  organized 
State,  Butler  renewed  the  attempt,  whereupon  Governor  Pier 
pont  protested  vigorously.  One  and  a  half  companies  were  all 
the  recruits  that  the  Commonwealth  would  furnish,  and  these, 
Butler  asserts,  were  employed  to  defend  lighthouses  and 


I34    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

protect  Union  inhabitants  from  outrages  at  the  hands  of  their 
disloyal  neighbors.1  This  experience,  it  may  be  supposed,  did 
not  tend  to  raise  the  Alexandria  government  in  the  esteem  of 
the  Department  Commander.  We  find  accordingly  that  differ 
ences  soon  sprang  up  between  the  civil  and  military  authorities. 
An  attempt  to  regulate  the  liquor  traffic  in  Norfolk  and  vi 
cinity  was  the  occasion  of  an  open  rupture.  Civil  officers 
continued  to  collect  the  payments  imposed  by  law  on  those 
engaged  in  the  business ;  the  military  power,  to  keep  the  traffic 
under  better  control,  undertook  to  give  to  a  few  firms  a 
monopoly  of  the  importation.  In  this  situation  many  small 
retailers  refused  to  pay  their  licenses  and  were  indicted  in 
the  local  courts.  To  foil  this  purpose,  General  Shepley  issued, 
June  22,  1864,  an  order  providing  that  "  on  the  day  of  the 
ensuing  municipal  election  in  the  city  of  Norfolk  a  poll  will 
be  opened  at  the  several  places  of  voting,  and  separate  ballot- 
boxes  will  be  kept  open  during  the  hours  of  voting,  in  which 
voters  may  deposit  their  ballots,  '  yes '  or  '  no/  upon  the  fol 
lowing  question:  Those  in  favor  of  continuing  the  present 
form  of  municipal  government  during  the  existence  of  mili 
tary  occupation  will  vote  'yes.'  Those  opposed  to  it  will 
vote  '  no/  " 

Governor  Pierpont  resented  this  action  and  promptly  issued 
a  proclamation  protesting  against  it  as  a  revolutionary  pro 
ceeding  in  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  adding,  "  No 
loyal  citizen,  therefore,  is  expected  to  vote  on  the  proposed 
question."  In  a  vigorous  pamphlet  discussing  the  "  abuses  of 
military  power  "  he  repeated  his  criticism. 

Butler  at  this  point  took  up  the  cudgels  for  his  subordinate 
and  in  a  general  order,  dated  June  30,  1864,  discussed  the  in 
cident  at  some  length.  Pierpont  was  alluded  to  as  "  a  person 
who  calls  himself  Governor,"  and  as  one  "  pretending-  to  be  the 
head  of  the  restored  government  of  Virginia,  which  govern- 
1  Butler's  Book,  p.  618. 


VIRGINIA  135 

ment  is  unrecognized  by  the  Congress,  laws,  and  Constitution 
of  the  United  States."  The  order  further  recited  that  as  the 
loyal  citizens  of  Norfolk  had  voted  against  the  further  trial  of 
the  experiment  of  municipal  government  "  therefore  it  is  or 
dered  that  all  attempts  to  exercise  civil  office  and  power, 
under  any  supposed  city  election,  within  the  city  of  Nor 
folk  and  its  environs,  must  cease,  and  the  persons  pretending 
to  be  elected  to  civil  offices  at  the  late  election,  and  those  here 
tofore  elected  to  municipal  offices  since  the  rebellion,  must 
no  longer  attempt  to  exercise  such  functions;  and  upon  any 
pretense  or  attempt  so  to  do,  the  military  commandant  at 
Norfolk  will  see  to  it  that  persons  so  acting  are  stayed  and 
quieted." 

A  memorial  to  Mr.  Lincoln  enlisted  his  sympathy  and 
secured  for  Pierpont  the  assistance  of  Attorney-General  Bates, 
who  on  July  n  wrote  the  President  a  long  official  letter 
setting  forth  his  sense  of  the  serious  military  encroachment  by 
General  Butler  upon  civil  law  and  the  authority  of  Mr.  Pier 
pont  as  Governor  of  Virginia.  The  Department  Commander 
replied  in  a  communication  of  forty  pages  in  sharp  criticism 
of  the  Alexandria  government,  which  he  characterized  as  a 
"useless,  expensive,  and  inefficient  thing,  unrecognized  by 
Congress,  unknown  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  such  character  that  there  is  no  command  in  the 
Decalogue  against  worshiping  it,  being  the  likeness  of  nothing 
in  the  heavens  above>  the  earth  beneath,  or  the  waters  under 
the  earth." 

The  Attorney-General,  who  was  accused  of  a  design  to 
create  a  conflict  between  the  civil  and  the  military  power,  also 
came  in  for  a  share  of  rather  violent  criticism.  In  this  alter 
cation  each  party  accused  the  other  of  being  assisted  by  only 
secessionists  and  traitors.1 

It  was  relative  to  this  controversy  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  Decem- 
1 N.  &  H.,  Abraham  Lincoln,  A  History,  Vol.  IX.  pp.  439-442. 


136    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

her  21,  1864,  addressed  to  General  Butler  the  following 
communication : 

On  the  Qth  of  August  last,  I  began  to  write  you  a  letter,  the  enclosed 
being  a  copy  of  so  much  as  I  then  wrote.  So  far  as  it  goes  it  embraces 
the  views  I  then  entertained  and  still  entertain. 

A  little  relaxation  of  the  complaints  made  to  me  on  the  subject,  occur 
ring  about  that  time,  the  letter  was  not  finished  and  sent.  I  now  learn, 
correctly  I  suppose,  that  you  have  ordered  an  election,  similar  to  the  one 
mentioned,  to  take  place  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Virginia.  Let  this  be 
suspended  at  least  until  conference  with  me  and  obtaining  my  approval. 

[Inclosure.] 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  August  9,  1864. 

Major-General  Butler: 

Your  paper  of  the about  Norfolk  matters,  is  received,  as  also  was 

your  other,  on  the  same  general  subject,  dated,  I  believe,  some  time  in 
February  last.  This  subject  has  caused  considerable  trouble,  forcing  me 
to  give  a  good  deal  of  time  and  reflection  to  it.  I  regret  that  crimination 
and  recrimination  are  mingled  in  it.  I  surely  need  not  to  assure  you  that 
I  have  no  doubt  of  your  loyalty  and  devoted  patriotism ;  and  I  must  tell 
you  that  I  have  no  less  confidence  in  those  of  Governor  Pierpont  and  the 
Attorney-General.  The  former  —  at  first  as  the  loyal  governor  of  all  Vir 
ginia,  including  that  which  is  now  West  Virginia,  in  organizing  and  fur 
nishing  troops,  and  in  all  other  proper  matters  —  was  as  earnest,  honest, 
and  efficient  to  the  extent  of  his  means  as  any  other  loyal  governor. 

The  inauguration  of  West  Virginia  as  a  new  State  left  to  him,  as  he 
assumed,  the  remainder  of  the  old  State;  and  the  insignificance  of  the 
parts  which  are  outside  of  the  rebel  lines,  and  consequently  within  his 
reach,  certainly  gives  a  somewhat  farcical  air  to  his  dominion,  and  I  sup 
pose  he,  as  well  as  I,  has  considered  that  it  can  be  useful  for  little  else 
than  as  a  nucleus  to  add  to.  The  Attorney-General  needs  only  to  be 
known  to  be  relieved  from  all  question  as  to  loyalty  and  thorough  devo 
tion  to  the  national  cause,  constantly  restraining  as  he  does  my  tendency 
to  clemency  for  rebels  and  rebel  sympathizers.  But  he  is  the  law-officer 
of  the  Government,  and  a  believer  in  the  virtue  of  adhering  to  law. 

Coming  to  the  question  itself,  the  military  occupancy  of  Norfolk  is  a  ne 
cessity  with  us.  If  you,  as  department  commander,  find  the  cleansing  of 
the  city  necessary  to  prevent  pestilence  in  your  army ;  street-lights  and  a 
fire  department  necessary  to  prevent  assassinations  and  incendiarism 
among  your  men  and  stores ;  wharfage  necessary  to  land  and  ship  men 
and  supplies;  a  large  pauperism,  badly  conducted  at  a  needlessly  large 
expense  to  the  government ;  and  find  that  all  these  things,  or  any  of  them, 


VIRGINIA  137 

are  not  reasonably  well  attended  to  by  the  civil  government,  you  rightfully 
may  and  must  take  them  into  your  own  hands.  But  you  should  do  so  on 
your  own  avowed  judgment  of  a  military  necessity,  and  not  seem  to  ad 
mit  that  there  is  no  such  necessity  by  taking  a  vote  of  the  people  on  the 
question. 

Nothing  justifies  the  suspending  of  the  civil  by  the  military  authority 
but  military  necessity;  and  of  the  existence  of  that  necessity,  the  military 
commander,  and  not  a  popular  vote,  is  to  decide.  And  whatever  is  not 
within  such  necessity  should  be  left  undisturbed. 

In  your  paper  of  February  you  fairly  notified  me  that  you  contemplated 
taking  a  popular  vote,  and,  if  fault  there  be,  it  was  my  fault  that  I  did  not 
object  then,  which  I  probably  should  have  done  had  I  studied  the  subject 
as  closely  as  I  have  since  done.  I  now  think  you  would  better  place 
whatever  you  feel  is  necessary  to  be  done  on  this  distinct  ground  o£  mili 
tary  necessity,  openly  discarding  all  reliance  for  what  you  do  on  any  elec 
tion.  I  also  think  you  should  so  keep  accounts  as  to  show  every  item  of 
money  received  and  how  expended. 

The  course  here  indicated  does  not  touch  the  case  when  the  military 
commander,  finding  no  friendly  civil  government  existing,  may,  under 
sanction  or  direction  of  the  President,  give  assistance  to  the  people  to 
inaugurate  one.1 

On  the  same  general  subject  the  President  one  week  later 
wrote  General  Butler  this  brief  note : 

I  think  you  will  find  that  the  provost-marshal  on  the  eastern  shore 
has,  as  by  your  authority,  issued  an  order,  not  for  a  meeting,  but 
for  an  election.  The  order,  printed  in  due  form,  was  shown  to  me, 
but  as  I  did  not  retain  it,  I  cannot  give  you  a  copy.  If  the  people,  on 
their  own  motion,  wish  to  hold  a  peaceful  meeting,  I  suppose  you 
need  not  hinder  them.* 

It  has  elsewhere  been  observed  that  a  Legislature  represent 
ing  what  remained  of  the  restored  government  was  chosen 
at  the  time  of  Mr.  Pierpont's  election.  This  body,  however, 
was  but  the  merest  shadow  of  the  Assembly  of  that  once 
proud  Commonwealth.  Seven  Delegates  responded  to  the 
roll  call  when  the  House  convened  in  December,  1863.  They 
adjourned  from  day  to  day  and  on  the  Qth  of  that  month  or 
ganized  with  eight  members  in  the  popular  branch.  Precisely 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  619-621, 
1  Ibid.,  p.  623. 


138    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

how  many  Senators  composed  the  upper  House  does  not  appear 
in  any  notice  of  their  proceedings  accessible  to  the  writer;  the 
aggregate  number  in  both  chambers,  however,  is  said  not  to 
have  exceeded  i6.J  This  estimate  is  probably  correct;  for  in 
the  election,  February  4,  1864,  of  a  Secretary  of  State  and  a 
Treasurer  the  total  vote  on  joint  ballot  was  only  I4.2 

It  is  probable  that  neither  Mr.  Lincoln  nor  Governor  Pier- 
pont  regarded  this  organization  as  anything  more  than  a 
nucleus  around  which  the  loyal  elements  might  rally.  Both 
Congress  and  the  military  authorities,  however,  treated  it 
with  scant  courtesy.  It  is  not  matter  of  surprise,  therefore, 
that  memorials  were  presented  to  the  United  States  Senate 
petitioning  for  the  substitution  of  a  military  for  this  feeble 
civil  government.  To  offset  this  movement  remonstrances 
from  citizens  of  Alexandria  and  from  citizens  of  Loudon 
County  were  offered,  January  17,  1865,  by  Senator  Willey, 
of  West  Virginia.  All  the  memorials  of  both  classes  were 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories. 

By  Mr.  Willey  credentials  of  Hon.  Joseph  Segar,  Senator- 
elect  from  Virginia,  were  presented,  February  17,  1865,  to 
supply  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Lemuel  J.  Bowden. 
Mr.  Willey  moved  that  the  credentials  be  read  and  placed  on 
the  files,  and  that  the  oath  of  office  be  administered  to  Mr. 
Segar.  The  credentials  were  read  and  immediately  after 
Mr.  Sumner  moved  that  the  papers  be  referred  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  the  Judiciary.  Senator  Willey  opposed  the  refer 
ence.  The  credentials,  he  believed,  were  proper  on  their  face; 
they  came  to  the  Senate  in  due  form  under  the  seal  of  the 
State  of  Virginia.  Mr.  Segar  was  the  accredited  successor 
of  Mr.  Bowden,  who  died  while  a  member  of  Congress.  If 
Mr.  Bowden  was  entitled  to  a  seat  his  successor  was  like 
wise  entitled  if  his  credentials  were  regular  and  correct. 

1  Why  The  Solid  South?  p.  222. 
fAnn.  Cycl.,  1864,  p.  810. 


VIRGINIA  139 

Mr.  Cowan  also  opposed  the  reference  because  he  did  not 
think  it  wise  to  abandon  the  policy  hitherto  pursued  in  deal 
ing  with  loyal  minorities  in  the  rebellious  States.  He  would 
be  sorry,  he  said,  if  these  States  were  repulsed  when  they  were 
desirous  to  do  all  they  could  to  achieve  the  very  end  for  which 
the  present  tremendous  struggle  was  taking  place.  When  Mr. 
Bowden  came  to  take  his  seat  no  such  objection  was  made. 
A  question  by  Senator  Hale  developed  the  fact,  however, 
that  Mr.  Bowden  presented  himself  before  the  vote  was  taken 
on  the  admission  of  West  Virginia. 

Trumbull  believed  that  a  reference  of  the  credentials,  just  as 
in  the  Arkansas  case,  would  bring  up  the  question.  Senator 
Howard,  who  favored  a  reference,  thought  that  the  entire 
question  of  the  right  of  Virginia  to  be  represented  in  Congress 
should  be  gone  into.  He  would  thank  the  committee  for  a 
concise  account  of  all  the  proceedings  connected  with  the 
election  of  Mr.  Segar  and  his  colleague.  He  asked  whether 
a  State  like  Virginia,  in  armed  rebellion,  could  have  Senators 
on  that  floor. 

Mr.  Saulsbury  pointed  out  the  change  that  had  come  over 
the  judgment  of  the  Senate.  When  Messrs.  Willey  and 
Carlile  appeared  there  was,  he  said,  but  a  corporal's  guard  who 
opposed  their  right  to  seats,  because  Virginia  was  in  rebellion, 
and  it  was  then  held  by  the  minority  that  Senators  should  rep 
resent  the  sovereignty  of  their  States.  Those  who  were 
then  most  zealous  for  the  admission  of  the  gentlemen  claiming 
to  represent  Virginia  had  become  most  vehement  in  their 
opposition  to  the  admission  of  Mr.  Segar. 

Senator  McDougall  believed  that  to  refer  the  proposition  to 
the  committee  would  be  to  bury  it,  and  no  resurrection,  he 
said,  had  been  proclaimed  for  any  such  thing.  He  had  his 
impressions  and  was  as  well  prepared  to  discuss  the  question 
then  as  at  any  time.  Virginia,  according  to  his  understand 
ing  of  the  philosophy  of  the  Constitution,  was  a  State  of  the 


140    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Union.  He  believed  the  Senator-elect,  by  reason  of  his  cre 
dentials,  could  take  the  oath,  though  that  was  not  conclusive 
of  his  right  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate. 

Henry  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  believed  that  Congress 
because  of  its  action  for  three  years  was  bound  to  recognize 
the  existence  of  both  the  Governor  and  Legislature  of  Vir 
ginia.  He  was  disposed,  however,  to  support  the  motion  of  his 
colleague,  Charles  Sumner,  as  well  as  the  amendment  thereto 
which  authorized  the  committee  to  inquire  into  the  election, 
returns  and  qualifications  in  the  case  of  the  claimant.  Cer 
tain  parts  of  Virginia,  exempted  by  the  President's  proclama 
tion,  were  not  in  rebellion.  Every  square  mile  additional 
over  which  Federal  authority  was  restored  came  by  the  terms 
of  that  proclamation  into  the  same  condition. 

Mr.  Willey  asserted  that  the  Legislature  sneeringly  referred 
to  as  "  the  Common  Council  of  Alexandria "  represented 
216,000  loyal  people.  He  believed  that  county  after  county, 
as  fast  as  they  were  relieved  from  the  power  of  the  rebellion, 
would  come  to  the  support  of  the  loyal  nucleus  at  Alexandria. 
It  would  place  the  Senate,  he  said,  in  a  singular  position  to 
repulse  the  claimant  while  his  State  was  represented  by 
another  Senator  [Carlile]. 

Senator  Sherman  stated  that  Mr.  Segar's  credentials  pur 
ported  to  show  that  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Senate 
on  the  8th  of  December  and  that  they  bore  date  of  December 
12,  1864.  Therefore  he  had  slept  for  sixty  or  seventy  days 
on  his  right  to  a  seat  which  would,  at  any  rate,  expire  on 
the  4th  of  March.  The  succeeding  Congress,  he  said,  would 
have  ample  time  to  decide  the  question,  for,  no  doubt,  at  that 
time  a  gentleman  claiming  to  be  a  Senator  from  Virginia 
would  present  himself.  Then  it  could  be  deliberately  de 
termined.  His  motion  to  lay  the  credentials  on  the  table 
prevailed  by  a  vote  of  29  to  I3.1  When  this  action  was  taken 
Carlile  was  among  the  eight  absentees. 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  845-849. 


VIRGINIA  141 

Pursuant  to  a  proclamation  of  the  President  the  Senate 
assembled  at  noon  of  March  4  in  executive  session.  Five 
days  later  the  question  of  admitting  Senators  from  Virginia 
came  again  before  the  Senate  on  presentation  by  Mr.  Doolittle 
of  the  credentials  of  Hon.  John  C.  Underwood  as  Senator- 
elect  from  that  State  for  six  years  from  the  4th  of  March. 
His  credentials  were  read  and  after  some  discussion  it  was 
agreed  to  postpone  their  consideration  as  well  as  those  of  Mr. 
Segar  until  the  following  session.  Henderson  and  Doolittle 
spoke  in  favor  of  the  early  recognition  by  Congress  of  the 
local  governments  in  those  States  which  had  been  brought 
partly  under  Federal  power.  The  account  of  Virginian  affairs 
will  be  resumed  in  the  final  chapter. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION 

THE  efforts  of  Union  minorities  in  Tennessee,  in 
Louisiana  and  in  Arkansas  to  establish  governments 
in  harmony  with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  agency  of  President  Lincoln  in  effect 
ing  that  result,  have  been  somewhat  particularly  described  in 
the  preceding  pages.  The  principal  events  which  marked  the 
progress  of  secession  in  those  States,  the  military  successes 
which  brought  Federal  authorities  to  consider  the  restoration 
of  loyal  governments  within  their  borders,  and  the  operation 
of  those  causes  which  ultimately  overthrew  rebellion  have  been 
more  rapidly  sketched.  To  trace  the  successive  steps  which 
led  to  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the  seceding  States  a 
somewhat  more  ample  narrative  will  be  required.  This  sub 
ject  is  not  only  of  intrinsic  interest  but  its  culmination  in  the 
proclamation  of  September  22,  1862,  marks  the  introduction 
into  the  President's  plan  of  restoration  of  an  element  hitherto 
left  out  of  account. 

In  December,  1859,  when  John  Brown,  for  his  rash  though 
courageous  attempt  to  liberate  slaves,  was  hanged  by  the 
authorities  of  Virginia  a  great  majority  of  even  Northern 
people  looked  on  with  indifference  or  with  approval.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  free  States,  however,  were  rather  law- 
abiding  than  pitiless  and  came  in  time  to  revere  the  memory 
of  that  stern  old  Puritan.  Ideas  in  those  times  matured  with 
amazing  rapidity,  and  fourteen  months  had  scarcely  elapsed 
when  James  B.  McKean,  a  Representative  from  New  York, 

142 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  143 

introduced  into  Congress,  three  days  before  the  Confederate 
government  was  organized,  the  following  resolution: 

Whereas  the  "  Gulf  States  "  have  assumed  to  secede  from  the  Union, 
and  it  is  deemed  important  to  prevent  the  "  border  slave  States  "  from 
following  their  example;  and  whereas  it  is  believed  that  those  who  are 
inflexibly  opposed  to  any  measure  of  compromise  or  concession  that  in 
volves,  or  may  involve,  a  sacrifice  of  principle  or  the  extension  of  slavery, 
would  nevertheless  cheerfully  concur  in  any  lawful  measure  for  the  eman 
cipation  of  slaves :  Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  select  committee  of  five  be  instructed  to  inquire 
whether,  by  the  consent  of  the  people,  or  of  the  State  governments,  or  by 
compensating  the  slaveholders,  it  be  practicable  for  the  General  Govern 
ment  to  procure  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  some,  or  all,  of  the 
"  border  States  " ;  and  if  so,  to  report  a  bill  for  that  purpose.1 

Mr.  Burnett,  of  Kentucky,  desiring  to  discuss  the  proposi 
tion,  it  was  laid  on  the  table  and  received  no  further  considera 
tion.  Whether  Mr.  Lincoln  had  much  reflected  upon  the 
principle  of  this  resolution  or  the  reasoning  in  its  preamble, 
he  had  not  become  on  March  4  a  convert  to  its  essential  idea, 
for  in  his  inaugural  address  he  was  content,  in  expressing  his 
sentiments  on  the  institution  of  slavery,  to  re-affirm  a  dec 
laration  which  he  had  formerly  made.  "  I  have  no  purpose," 
said  he,  "  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists.  I  believe  I  have 
no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so."  * 
Even  if  the  occasion  had  not  demanded  the  language  of  con 
ciliation  we  might  easily  credit  this  solemn  assurance.  In 
deed,  for  an  entire  year  after  this  announcement  he  refrained 
in  his  public  utterances  from  taking  any  attitude  hostile  to  the 
continuance  of  slavery.  The  influences  which  forced  him  to 
adopt  other  opinions  may  be  briefly  related. 

On  May  22,  1861,  General  Butler  arrived  at  Fortress 
Monroe  and  at  once  took  command  of  the  Department  of  Vir 
ginia;  next  day  he  sent  a  reconnoitering  party  to  Hampton, 

1McPherson's  Pol.  Hist,  p.  209. 

*  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  I. 


144    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  in  the  terror  and  confusion  occasioned  by  the  presence 
of  Yankee  soldiers  three  slaves  of  Colonel  Mallory,  a 
Confederate  officer,  effected  their  escape;  during  the  afternoon 
they  remained  in  concealment  and  at  night  reached  the  Union 
pickets.  The  following  morning  they  were  brought  before 
the  Federal  commander,  whom  they  informed  of  their  master's 
purpose  to  employ  them  in  military  operations  in  North  Caro 
lina.  On  the  next  day  Major  John  B.  Cary,  also  of  the  Con 
federate  army,  and  a  former  delegate  with  Butler  in  the 
Baltimore  Convention,  came  to  the  fort  with  a  flag  of  truce, 
and  as  a  representative  of  Colonel  Mallory  demanded  the 
surrender  of  these  runaways  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  under  which  the  Union  commander 
claimed  to  act.  With  characteristic  readiness  came  the  reply 
that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  could  not  be  invoked  in  this 
case;  Virginia  assumed  to  be  a  foreign  State  and  she  must 
count  it  among  the  disadvantages  of  her  position  if,  so  far  at 
least,  she  was  taken  at  her  word.  These  negroes  further 
informed  General  Butler  or  his  officers  that  if  they  were  not 
returned  others  would  come  next  day.  On  the  26th  eight 
slaves  were  before  him  awaiting  an  audience;  one  squad  of 
forty-seven  came  early  on  the  27th  and  another  lot  of  a  dozen 
arrived  during  the  same  day.  Then  they  came  by  twenties, 
thirties  and  forties  both  to  Fortress  Monroe  and  Newport 
News.1 

Thus  arose  an  important  question  on  which  the  Government 
had  yet  developed  no  policy.  As  the  acts  for  the  rendition  of 
fugitive  slaves  were  not  repealed  till  June,  1864,  the  views  of 
individual  commanders  temporarily  prevailed.  Without  prece 
dent  or  instructions  General  McDowell  by  an  order  entirely 
excluded  them  from  his  lines.  Caprice,  too,  entered  into  a 
settlement  of  the  problem,  and  even  a  whimsical  solution 
was  sometimes  attempted.  A  felicitous  invention  for  deter- 

1  Addresses  and  Papers  of  Edward  L.  Pierce,  pp.  20-25. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  145 

mining  these  controversies  between  master  and  bondman  is 
ascribed  to  the  colonel  of  a  Massachusetts  regiment.  Both 
the  claimant  and  the  claimed  were  put  outside  his  tent  for  a 
trial  of  speed;  the  negro,  proving  the  fleeter,  was  never  heard 
of  again.1  An  institution  which  had  practically  determined 
both  the  foreign  and  domestic  policy  of  the  United  States 
for  an  entire  generation  was  suddenly  become  the  sport  of  a 
subordinate  officer  of  volunteers!  The  wise  should  have 
heeded  these  signs. 

While  the  Federal  commander  in  Virginia  was  exchanging 
arguments  with  Confederate  officers,  General  McClellan  at  his 
headquarters  in  Cincinnati  was  considering  a  proclamation 
which  on  May  26  he  issued  to  the  Union  men  of  western 
Virginia.  This  document,  among  other  things,  says :  "  All 
your  rights  shall  be  religiously  respected,  notwithstanding 
all  that  has  been  said  by  the  traitors  to  induce  you  to  believe 
our  advent  among  you  will  be  signalized  by  an  interference 
with  your  slaves.  Understand  one  thing  clearly :  not  only  will 
we  abstain  from  all  such  interference,  but  we  will,  on  the  con 
trary,  with  an  iron  hand  crush  any  attempt  at  insurrection  on 
their  part"  2 

Scarcely  less  explicit  in  its  announcement  concerning 
slavery  was  General  Patterson's  proclamation  of  June  3,  1861, 
to  troops  of  the  Department  of  Pennsylvania.  "  You  must 
bear  in  mind,"  says  its  concluding  paragraph,  that  "  you  are 
going  for  the  good  of  the  whole  country,  and  that,  while  it  is 
your  duty  to  punish  sedition,  you  must  protect  the  loyal, 
and,  should  the  occasion  offer,  at  once  suppress  servile 
insurrection"  9 

Butler's  interview  with  Major  Cary  had  been  promptly 
communicated  to  the  War  Department,  whose  chief,  Mr. 


1  Addresses  and  Papers  of  E.  L.  Pierce,  p.  26. 
*  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.  p.  244. 
'  Ibid. 


146    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Cameron,  expressed  in  his  reply  of  May  30  approval  of  the 
General's  action.  The  Secretary,  however,  endeavored  to  dis 
tinguish  between  interference  with  slave  property  and  the 
surrender  of  negroes  that  came  voluntarily  within  Federal 
lines.  The  commander  was  further  directed  to  "  employ  such 
persons  in  the  services  to  which  they  may  be  best  adapted, 
keeping  an  account  of  the  labor  by  them  performed,  of  the 
value  of  it,  and  the  expenses  of  their  maintenance/' 1  the  ques 
tion  of  their  final  disposition  to  be  reserved  for  future 
determination. 

In  defence  of  his  attitude  toward  masters  of  fugitives  who 
had  been  employed  in  the  batteries  or  on  the  fortifications  of 
the  enemy,  international  law  supplied  General  Butler  with  an 
analogy  that  he  skillfully  applied  to  the  novel  conditions 
which  had  arisen.  Articles  of  assistance  in  military  opera 
tions  cannot  in  time  of  war  be  imported  by  neutrals  into  an 
enemy's  country,  and  the  attempt  to  introduce  such  goods 
renders  them  liable  to  seizure  as  lawful  prize.  It  did  not 
greatly  embarrass  this  versatile  lawyer  that  the  term  contra 
band  applies  exclusively  to  relations  between  a  belligerent  and 
a  neutral,  or  that  the  decision  of  a  prize  court  might  be  neces 
sary  to  determine  whether  a  particular  article  had  been  so  des 
ignated.  No  doubt  he  believed  firmly  in  the  doctrine  that  the 
wants  of  war  are  contraband  of  war.  In  his  correspondence 
with  General  Scott  he  had  observed  that  "  as  a  military  ques 
tion,  it  would  seem  to  be  a  measure  of  necessity  "  to  deprive 
disloyal  masters  of  the  services  of  their  slaves,  and  this,  on  the 
pretext  that  they  were  contraband  of  war,  he  proceeded  to  do 
by  refusing  to  surrender  any  negroes  coming  inside  his  lines.2 
This  method  of  settling  the  difficulty  was  what  Secretary 
Cameron  had  approved.  But  this  phase  presented  the  ques 
tion  in  its  extreme  simplicity.  A  refusal  to  return  the  slaves 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  244. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  245. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  147 

of  Confederate  officers  or  of  Confederate  sympathizers  was 
one  thing;  similar  treatment  of  loyal  slaveholders  would  not 
be  so  readily  overlooked  by  authority.  Though  such  cases 
were  more  likely  to  occur  in  Maryland,  Kentucky  or  Missouri, 
that  fact  did  not  prevent  the  subject  from  assuming  very  great 
importance  even  in  Virginia.  Whole  families  escaped  from 
their  masters,  and  General  Butler  soon  had  on  his  hands 
negroes  from  three  months  to  almost  fourscore  years  of  age. 

Attorney-General  Bates,  writing  July  23,  1861,  to  United 
States  Marshal  J.  L.  McDowell,  of  Kansas,  who  had  asked 
whether  he  should  give  his  official  service  in  executing  the 
fugitive  slave  law,  said  in  response  to  the  inquiry : 

It  is  the  President's  constitutional  duty  to  "  take  care  that  the  laws  be 
faithfully  executed."  That  means  all  the  laws.  He  has  no  right  to  dis 
criminate,  no  right  to  execute  the  laws  he  likes,  and  leave  unexecuted 
those  he  dislikes.  And  of  course  you  and  I,  his  subordinates,  can  have 
no  wider  latitude  of  discretion  than  he  has.  Missouri  is  a  State  in  the 
Union.  The  insurrectionary  disorders  in  Missouri  are  but  individual 
crimes,  and  do  not  change  the  legal  status  of  the  State,  nor  change  its 
rights  and  obligations  as  a  member  of  the  Union. 

A  refusal  by  a  ministerial  officer  to  execute  any  law  which  properly 
belongs  to  his  office,  is  an  official  misdemeanor,  of  which  I  have  no  doubt 
the  President  would  take  notice.1 

The  Attorney-General  in  this  instance  merely  amplified  a 
suggestion  contained  in  the  inaugural. 

Toward  the  close  of  July,  1861,  the  number  of  "contra 
bands  "  had  increased  to  nine  hundred,  and  the  Union  com 
mander  again  requested  instructions.2  Secretary  Cameron's 
reply  on  the  8th  of  August  following  merely  authorized,  what 
General  Butler  had  all  along  been  doing,  employing  them  at 
such  labor  as  they  were  adapted  to  and  keeping  a  complete 
record,  so  that  when  peace  was  restored  the  essential  facts 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  235n. 

*  Addresses  and  Papers  of  E.  L.  Pierce,  p.  29. 


148    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  each  case  could  easily  be  ascertained.1  His  tact  in  dealing 
with  this  question  appears  from  an  act  of  Congress  approved 
August  6  in  which  his  extension  of  meaning  to  the  word 
contraband  is  adopted.  This  declared  that  if  persons  held 
to  labor  or  service  were  employed  in  hostility  to  the  United 
States,  the  right  to  their  services  should  be  forfeited  and  such 
persons  be  discharged  therefrom.2 

Exclusion  of  fugitive  slaves  from  the  quarters  and  camps 
of  troops  serving  in  the  Department  of  Washington  was  pro 
vided  by  a  general  order  of  July  17,  1861,  and  a  few  weeks 
later,  August  10,  the  departure  by  railway  of  negroes  from 
the  District  of  Columbia  was  prevented  unless  evidence  of 
freedom  could  be  adduced.3 

Far  more  important,  however,  than  these  prudent  regula 
tions  of  the  Adjutant-General  was  the  celebrated  proclamation 
of  Fremont,  dated  St.  Louis,  August  31,  1861,  which  declared 
martial  law  throughout  the  entire  State  of  Missouri  and  ex 
pressed  a  purpose  both  to  confiscate  the  property  and  free  the 
negroes  of  all  persons  in  the  State  who  should  take  up  arms 
against  the  United  States  or  who  were  shown  to  have  taken 
an  active  part  with  their  enemy  in  the  field.4  The  President, 
in  a  communication  of  September  2  following,  wrote  General 
Fremont  expressing  anxiety  concerning  the  effects  of  this 
proclamation :  "  I  think  there  is  great  danger,"  said  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "  that  the  closing  paragraph,  in  relation  to  the  confis 
cation  of  property  and  the  liberating  slaves  of  traitorous  own 
ers,  will  alarm  our  Southern  Union  friends  and  turn  them 
against  us;  perhaps  ruin  our  rather  fair  prospect  for 
Kentucky.6 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  245. 

*  Appendix,  Globe,  I  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  42. 

8  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  245.  4  Ibid.,  pp.  245-246. 

"General  Anderson  had  telegraphed  President  Lincoln  that  an  entire 
company  of  Kentucky  soldiers  had  laid  down  their  arms  upon  hearing  of 
Fremont's  action. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  149 

"  Allow  me  therefore  to  ask  that  you  will,  as  of  your  own 
motion,  modify  that  paragraph  so  as  to  conform  to  the  first 
and  fourth  sections  of  the  act  of  Congress  entitled,  '  An  act 
to  confiscate  property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes/  ap 
proved  August  6,  1 86 1,  and  a  copy  of  which  act  I  herewith 
send  you. 

"  This  letter  is  written  in  a  spirit  of  caution,  and  not  of 
censure." * 

Though  General  Fremont  had  acted  wholly  on  his  own 
responsibility  he  refused  so  to  modify  that  portion  of  his  proc 
lamation  relative  to  emancipating  slaves  as  to  conform  to  the 
act  of  Congress  referred  to,  and  in  a  letter  requested  the  Presi 
dent  "  openly  to  direct  "  him  "  to  make  the  correction."  Re 
ferring  to  this  part  of  his  communication  Mr.  Lincoln  replied 
on  the  nth:  "Your  answer,  just  received,  expresses  the 
preference  on  your  part  that  I  should  make  an  open  order  for 
the  modification,  which  I  very  cheerfully  do.  It  is  therefore 
ordered  that  the  said  clause  of  said  proclamation  be  so  modi 
fied,  held,  and  construed,  as  to. conform  to,  and  not  to  tran 
scend,  the  provisions  on  the  same  subject  contained  in  the  act 
of  Congress"  approved  August  6,  i86i.2 

As  late  as  October  14  the  War  Department  was  guided  by 
the  principles  developed  in  its  correspondence  with  Butler,  the 
instructions  of  that  date  to  General  T.  W.  Sherman  being 
based  upon  this  policy.3  A  month  later  inhabitants  of  the 
eastern  shore  of  Virginia  were  informed  by  General  Dix 
that  "  special  directions  have  been  given  not  to  interfere  with 
the  condition  of  any  person  held  to  domestic  service;  "  to 
prevent  any  such  occurrence  slaves  were  not  permitted  to  come 
within  his  lines.4 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  77. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  78-79. 

8McPherson's  Pol.  Hist,  pp.  247-248. 
4  Ibid.,  p.  248. 


150     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Besides  those  who  favored  military  emancipation,  a  large 
class  seriously  expected  that  the  war  would  not  only  preserve 
the  integrity  of  the  Union,  but  in  some  way  result  in  a  general 
liberation  of  slaves.  This  feeling,  manifested  in  various  ways, 
was  rapidly  gathering  strength,  and  as  early  as  November  8 
found  enthusiastic  expression  at  a  public  meeting  of  two  thou 
sand  citizens  held  in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York  city.  This 
assembly,  which  convened  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
was  presided  over  by  Hon.  George  Bancroft  and  attended  by 
many  distinguished  persons  of  both  the  nation  and  the  State. 
Besides  the  remarks  of  its  illustrious  chairman  addresses  were 
made  by  William  Cullen  Bryant,  General  Ambrose  Burnside, 
Professor  Francis  Lieber  and  others.  Shortly  before  the 
speakers  arrived  a  gentleman  arose  in  the  audience,  and  in  a 
ringing  voice  proposed  "  Three  cheers  for  John  C.  Fremont !  " 
These  were  given,  says  a  newspaper  account,  "  with  electrical 
effect  and  without  a  murmur  of  dissent."  The  meeting  was 
evidently  not  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  President's  order 
modifying  that  General's  proclamation  of  the  preceding 
August. 

North  Carolina,  as  is  well  known,  was  not  so  ardent  for 
secession  as  most  of  her  sister  States  in  the  South;  forced  to 
take  sides,  however,  she  imitated  the  example  of  her  neighbors. 
Even  then  all  her  people  did  not  share  the  opinions  of  their 
leaders,  and  when  Federal  troops  landed  in  the  vicinity  of 
Hatteras  nearly  four  thousand  loyal  inhabitants  of  the  coast 
flocked  to  their  lines  and  readily  took  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  United  States;  for  this  conduct  they  incurred  the  ex 
treme  hatred  of  secessionists,  who  soon  reduced  them  to  a 
condition  of  distress.  To  relieve  their  destitution,  by  supplies 
of  food  and  clothing,  the  meeting  was  called  in  Cooper  Insti 
tute.  Resolutions  of  sympathy  were  unanimously  adopted;  a 
committee  of  relief  was  appointed  to  collect  from  the  city  and 
elsewhere  such  funds  as  were  necessary  for  the  purchase  of 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  1 5 1 

supplies,  which  were  to  be  forwarded  and  distributed  in  the 
most  judicious  manner. 

"If  the  President,"  said  Mr.  Bancroft,  "has  any  doubt 
under  the  terrible  conflict  into  which  he  has  been  brought, 
let  him  hear  the  words  of  one  of  his  predecessors.  Alien  nulli 
fication  raised  itself  in  South  Carolina.  Andrew  Jackson,  in 
the  watches  of  the  night,  as  he  sat  alone  finishing  that  proc 
lamation,  sent  the  last  words  of  it  to  Livingston,  his  bosom 
friend  and  best  adviser.  He  sent  it  with  these  words;  I  have 
had  the  letter  in  my  own  hands,  handed  to  me  by  the  only 
surviving  child  of  Mr.  Livingston.  I  know  the  letter  which  I 
now  read  is  a  copy :  '  I  submit  the  above  as  the  conclusion 
of  the  proclamation  for  your  amendment  and  revision.  Let  it 
receive  your  best  flight  of  eloquence  to  strike  to  the  heart  and 
speak  to  the  feelings  of  my  deluded  countrymen  of  South 
Carolina.  The  Union  must  be  preserved  without  blood  if 
this  be  possible;  but  it  must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards  and 
at  any  price/  '  Mr.  Bancroft  added :  "  We  send  the  army 
into  the  South  to  maintain  the  Union,  to  restore  the  validity 
of  the  Constitution.  If  any  one  presents  claims  under  the 
Constitution,  let  him  begin  by  placing  the  Constitution  in 
power,  by  respecting  it  and  upholding  it." 

Francis  Lieber  referred  to  slavery  as  "  that  great  anachro 
nism,  out  of  time,  out  of  place  in  the  nineteenth  century,"  and 
Rev.  Doctor  Tyng  said,  "  if  slavery  is  in  the  way  of  the 
Union,  then  tread  slavery  down  into  the  dust."  1  These  senti 
ments  were  received  with  applause. 

Mr.  Bancroft  a  week  later  wrote  to  the  President : 

Following  out  your  suggestion,  a  very  numerous  meeting  of  New- 
Yorkers  assembled  last  week  to  take  measures  for  relieving  the  loyal 
sufferers  of  Hatteras.  I  take  the  liberty  to  enclose  you  some  remarks 
which  I  made  on  the  occasion.  You  will  find  in  them  a  copy  of  an  un 
published  letter  of  one  of  your  most  honored  predecessors,  with  which 
you  cannot  fail  to  be  pleased. 

1 N.  Y.  Tribune,  November  8,  1861. 


152    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Your  administration  has  fallen  upon  times  which  will  be  remembered 
as  long  as  human  events  find  a  record.  I  sincerely  wish  to  you  the  glory 
of  perfect  success.  Civil  War  is  the  instrument  of  Divine  Providence  to 
root  out  social  slavery.  Posterity  will  not  be  satisfied  with  the  result  un 
less  the  consequences  of  the  war  shall  effect  an  increase  of  free  States. 
This  is  the  universal  expectation  and  hope  of  men  of  all  parties. x 

On  the  1 8th  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  this  reply : 

I  esteem  it  a  high  honor  to  have  received  a  note  from  Mr.  Bancroft 
inclosing  the  report  of  proceedings  of  a  New  York  meeting  taking  meas 
ures  for  the  relief  of  Union  people  of  North  Carolina.  I  thank  you  and 
all  others  participating  for  this  benevolent  and  patriotic  movement. 

The  main  thought  in  the  closing  paragraph  of  your  letter  is  one  which 
does  not  escape  my  attention,  and  with  which  I  must  deal  in  all  due 
caution,  and  with  the  best  judgment  I  can  bring  to  it.2 

We  have  here  the  key  to  President  Lincoln's  treatment  of 
the  slavery  question  down  to  the  hour  of  his  lamented  death. 
As  the  hostile  employment  of  negroes  constituted  by  act  of 
August  6  a  full  answer  to  any  claim  for  service  General 
McClellan  was  informed  by  Secretary  Seward,  December  4, 
1 86 1,  that  the  arrest  of  such  persons  as  fugitives  from  labor 
"  should  be  immediately  followed  by  the  military  arrest  of 
the  parties  making  the  seizure."  These  instructions  were 
called  forth  by  intelligence  that  Virginia  slaves  engaged  in  hos 
tility  to  the  United  States  frequently  escaped  from  the  enemy 
and  took  refuge  within  the  lines  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Coming  afterward  into  the  District  of  Columbia,  such  persons 
upon  the  presumption  arising  from  color,  were  liable  to  be 
arrested  by  the  Washington  police.3 

On  December  3,  1861,  in  his  first  annual  message  to  Con 
gress,  Mr.  Lincoln  discussed  without  especial  emphasis  the 
question  of  aiding  those  slaves  who  had  been  freed  under  the 
act  of  August  6;  he  observed  that  this  class  was  dependent 
upon  the  United  States;  it  was  believed  that,  for  their  own 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  90. 

8  Ibid. 

'Ann.  Cycl.,  1861,  p.  646. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION 

benefit,  many  of  the  States  would  enact  similar  laws ;  he  there 
fore  recommended  Congress  to  provide  for  accepting  such 
persons  from  the  States, 

according  to  some  mode  of  valuation,  in  lieu,  pro  tanto,  of  direct  taxes, 
or  upon  some  other  plan  to  be  agreed  on  with  such  States  respectively; 
that  such  persons,  on  such  acceptance  by  the  General  Government,  be  at 
once  deemed  free;  and  that,  in  any  event,  steps  be  taken  for  colonizing 
both  classes  (or  the  one  first  mentioned,  if  the  other  shall  not  be  brought 
into  existence)  at  some  place  or  places  in  a  climate  congenial  to  them. 
It  might  be  well  to  consider,  too,  whether  the  free  colored  people  already 
in  the  United  States  could  not,  so  far  as  individuals  may  desire,  be  in 
cluded  in  such  colonization. 

To  carry  out  the  plan  of  colonization  may  involve  the  acquiring  of  ter 
ritory,  and  also  the  appropriation  of  money  beyond  that  to  be  expended  in 
the  territorial  acquisition.  Having  practiced  the  acquisition  of  territory 
for  nearly  sixty  years,  the  question  of  constitutional  power  to  do  so  is 
no  longer  an  open  one  with  us.  The  power  was  questioned  at  first  by 
Mr.  Jefferson,  who,  however,  in  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  yielded  his 
scruples  on  the  plea  of  great  expediency.  If  it  be  said  that  the  only  legiti 
mate  object  of  acquiring  territory  is  to  furnish  homes  for  white  men,  this 
measure  effects  that  object;  for  the  emigration  of  colored  men  leaves 
additional  room  for  white  men  remaining  or  coming  here.  Mr.  Jefferson, 
however,  placed  the  importance  of  procuring  Louisiana  more  on  political 
and  commercial  grounds  than  on  providing  room  for  population. 

On  this  whole  proposition,  including  the  appropriation  of  money  with 
the  acquisition  of  territory,  does  not  the  expediency  amount  to  absolute 
necessity  —  that  without  which  the  Government  itself  cannot  be  perpetu 
ated? 

The  war  continues.  In  considering  the  policy  to  be  adopted  for  sup 
pressing  the  insurrection,  I  have  been  anxious  and  careful  that  the  in 
evitable  conflict  for  this  purpose  shall  not  degenerate  into  a  violent  and 
remorseless  revolutionary  struggle.  I  have,  therefore,  in  every  case 
thought  it  proper  to  keep  the  integrity  of  the  Union  prominent  as  the  pri 
mary  object  of  the  contest  on  our  part,  leaving  all  questions  which  are  not 
of  vital  military  importance  to  the  more  deliberate  action  of  the  Legisla 
ture. 

In  the  exercise  of  my  best  discretion  I  have  adhered  to  the  blockade  of 
the  ports  held  by  the  insurgents,  instead  of  putting  in  force,  by  procla 
mation,  the  law  of  Congress  enacted  at  the  last  session  for  closing  those 
ports. 

So,  also,  obeying  the  dictates  of  prudence  as  well  as  the  obligations  of 
law,  instead  of  transcending  I  have  adhered  to  the  act  of  Congress  to 
confiscate  property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes.  If  a  new  law  upon 


154    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  same  subject  shall  be  proposed,  its  propriety  will  be  duly  considered. 
The  Union  must  be  preserved ;  and  hence  all  indispensable  means  must  be 
employed.  We  should  not  be  in  haste  to  determine  that  radical  and  ex 
treme  measures,  which  may  reach  the  loyal  as  well  as  the  disloyal,  are  in 
dispensable.* 

The  President's  mastery  of  national  affairs  is  seen  in  the 
ability  and  thoroughness  with  which  he  treated  a  great  variety 
of  important  public  questions;  though  his  message  touches 
with  the  utmost  delicacy  the  paramount  issue  of  slavery  it 
really  marked  an  advance  in  his  position.  However,  he  was 
not  yet  abreast  of  the  aggressive  anti-slavery  party  in  the  37th 
Congress,  which  had  just  commenced  its  first  regular  session. 

The  "  increase  of  free  States,"  which  Mr.  Bancroft  hoped 
would  result  from  the  war,  and  which  President  Lincoln's 
reply  shows  had  not  escaped  his  attention,  was  not  to  be 
effected  by  military  emancipation  in  the  field  but  by  the  volun 
tary  action  of  the  States  themselves.  The  caution  and  judg 
ment  which  he  brought  to  bear  on  this  subject  are  apparent 
from  even  a  casual  examination  of  the  message,  which  refers 
to  the  number  of  slaves  that  had  been  freed  by  the  incidents 
of  war,  and  to  the  extreme  probability  that  still  others  would 
be  liberated  in  its  progress.  It  contained  also  a  recommen 
dation  of  colonization,  a  topic  which  had  long  been  familiar 
to  Americans  both  North  and  South.  To  any  new  law  eman 
cipating  slaves  for  the  participation  of  their  masters  in  rebel 
lion,  he  promised  to  give  due  consideration.  This  part  of  the 
message  had  the  additional  merit  of  being  easily  expanded 
into  a  more  definite  policy.  It  was  this  characteristic  prudence 
that  led  the  President  to  suppress  the  following  remarks  in  a 
report  which  the  Secretary  of  War  had  prepared  for  the  open 
ing  of  Congress  in  December,  1861 : 

If  it  shall  be  found  that  the  men  who  have  been  held  by  the  rebels  as 
slaves  are  capable  of  bearing  arms  and  performing  efficient  military  serv- 

1  First  Annual  Message,  December  3,  1861.  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist, 
p.  134;  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  102-103. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  155 

ice,  it  is  the  right,  and  may  become  the  duty,  of  this  government  to  arm 
and  equip  them,  and  employ  their  services  against  the  rebels,  under  proper 
military  regulation,  discipline,  and  command.1 

Any  legislation,  or  even  any  extended  debate,  on  these 
recommendations  was  prevented  by  questions  deemed  more 
urgent  by  Congress.  Indeed,  the  President  does  not  appear 
to  have  seriously  expected  favorable  action  at  this  time  upon 
his  suggestions,  for  he  resumed  certain  efforts  which  he  had 
been  carefully  considering.  He  believed  that  by  the  pressure 
of  war  necessities  the  border  States  might  be  induced  to  take 
up  the  idea  of  voluntary  emancipation  if  the  General  Govern 
ment  would  pay  their  citizens  the  full  property  value  of  the 
slaves  they  were  asked  to  liberate ;  and  this  experiment  seemed 
most  feasible  in  the  small  State  of  Delaware,  which  retained 
only  the  merest  fragment  of  a  property  interest  in  the 
institution. 

Even  before  the  appearance  of  his  message  a  plan  of  com 
pensated  abolishment  had  taken  definite  form  in  the  mind 
of  the  President,  for  about  November  26  he  had  prepared 
a  draft  of  a  bill  for  gradual  emancipation  in  Delaware.2 
Through  Congressman  George  P.  Fisher  the  proposition  was 
laid  before  the  General  Assembly  of  that  State  and  received 
favorable  consideration  in  the  lower  House.  By  the  Senate, 
which  convened  November  25,  1861,  it  was  taken  up  for  dis 
cussion  on  February  7  succeeding.  Upon  the  question,  4 
voted  in  favor  and  4  against  concurring  in  the  action  of  the 
more  popular  branch  of  the  Legislature.  The  remaining 
Senator,  McFerran,  was  absent  or  silent  and  is  not  accounted 
for  in  the  journal  of  this  special  session.  Therefore  the 
measure  was  returned  non-concurred  in  to  the  other  chamber. 
The  following  preamble  and  joint  resolution  relative  to  the 
proposed  emancipation  bill  are  self-explanatory.  The  Fed- 

1McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  249. 

8  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  91. 


156    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

eral  suggestion  was  repelled  as  an  unwarranted  interference 
in  the  domestic  concerns  of  that  State : 

Whereas,  There  has  been  circulating  among  the  members  of  this  Gen 
eral  Assembly  a  printed  draft  for  a  law  to  be  entitled  "  An  act  for  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the  State  of  Delaware  with  just  com 
pensation  to  their  owners  " ;  and  whereas  many  of  the  members  of  this 
General  Assembly  have  been  requested  to  support  it,  the  said  draft  being 
in  the  following  words:  [Then  follows  the  title,  together  with  the 
twenty-one  sections  composing  the  bill.  To  which  is  added:]  And 
whereas  it  is  uncertain  that  said  proposition  will  be  submitted  to  this 
General  Assembly  for  its  action,  nevertheless,  viewing  it  to  be  unworthy 
of  their  support,  they  desire  to  place  upon  record  the  grounds  of  their 
condemnation ;  therefore 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  of 
Delaware  in  General  Assembly  met,  That  the  members  of  this  Legislature 
were  not  elected  with  a  view  to  the  passage  of  any  act  for  the  emancipa 
tion  of  slaves,  but  with  the  understanding,  either  expressed  or  implied, 
that  legislation  upon  the  distracting  subject  of  slavery  was  hostile  to  the 
public  peace,  and  therefore  to  be  avoided;  that  the  passage  of  the  act 
drafted  as  aforesaid,  inasmuch  as  it  renders  Congressional  action  neces 
sary,  would,  upon  the  apparent  application  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  intro 
duce  the  slavery  question  into  Congress,  would  encourage  the  abolition 
element  therein,  and  fortify  it  in  its  purpose  to  destroy  entirely  all  prop 
erty  in  slaves,  and  furthermore,  would  be  injurious  to  the  quiet  and  har 
mony  that  prevail  in  this  State. 

Be  it  further  resolved  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  it  is  the  opinion 
of  this  General  Assembly,  that  Congress  has  no  right  to  appropriate  a 
dollar  for  the  purchase  of  slaves,  and  that  such  a  proposal,  coming  from 
the  source  to  which  it  is  traceable,  evinces  a  design  on  the  part  of  those 
having  control  of  our  national  affairs  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  States. 

Resolved  further,  That  this  General  Assembly  having  in  mind  the  inter 
ests  of  the  people  of  Delaware,  are  not  willing,  especially  at  a  time  of 
financial  embarrassment,  to  make  the  State  of  Delaware  a  guarantor  of 
any  debt  the  payment  of  which  depends  upon  the  mere  pledge  of  public 
faith ;  that  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  this  State  that  nothing  would 
ever  be  done  to  promote  a  disunion  of  our  National  system,  but  that  it 
would  remain,  as  expressed  by  Webster  "  one  and  inseparable,  now  and 
forever,"  having  been  impaired  by  the  events  of  the  last  two  years,  we  are 
and  should  be  very  cautious  in  resting  our  obligations  on  the  mere  faith  of 
others ;  that  by  accepting  the  terms  to  be  offered  by  the  United  States, 
we  should,  upon  grounds  of  the  plainest  equity,  be  held  to  have  pledged 
the  faith  of  Delaware  for  the  payment  of  nine  hundred  thousand  dollars 
as  mentioned  in  the  draft  aforesaid ;  that,  keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  157 

the  power  of  the  nation  is  now  put  forth  to  suppress  a  rebellion  prevail 
ing  throughout  a  very  large  portion  of  its  territory,  and  that  in  conse 
quence  of  such  rebellion  and  the  uncertainty  of  its  being  speedily  quelled, 
the  stocks  of  the  United  States,  which  heretofore  brought  in  the  market  a 
sum  far  beyond  the  par  value  thereof,  are  now  selling  at  a  continually  in 
creasing  rate  of  discount,  we  are  unwilling  to  pledge  the  faith  of  Dela 
ware  (a  faith  which  has  never  been  violated)  that  the  proposed  mode  of 
payment  is  safe  and  proper. 

Resolved  further,  That  when  the  people  of  Delaware  desire  to  abolish 
slavery  within  her  borders,  they  will  do  so  in  their  own  way,  having  due 
regard  to  strict  equity;  that  any  interference  from  without,  and  all  sug 
gestions  of  saving  expense  to  the  people,  or  others  of  like  character,  are 
improper  to  be  made  to  an  honorable  people,  such  as  we  represent,  and 
are  hereby  repelled  —  that  though  the  State  of  Delaware  is  small,  and  her 
people  not  of  the  richest,  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  any  who  would 
promote  an  end  by  improper  interference  and  solicitations. 

Resolved  further,  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolutions,  duly  at 
tested,  be  transmitted  to  each  of  our  Senators,  and  to  our  Representative 
in  Congress,  to  be  laid  before  their  respective  houses.1 

Thus  ended,  so  far  as  Delaware  was  concerned,  the  ques 
tion  of  compensated  emancipation.  Precisely  why  the  offer 
of  Federal  assistance  was  rejected  nowhere  clearly  appears 
except  in  the  records  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  high 
ground  assumed  in  the  resolutions  was,  of  course,  the  only 
one  in  harmony  with  public  opinion  in  the  State.  There  are, 
however,  some  facts  in  the  history  of  that  Commonwealth 
which  afford  a  partial  explanation  of  the  action  of  its  Leg 
islature.  When  the  Federalist  party  as  a  political  force  had 
disappeared  everywhere  outside  of  New  England  its  princi 
ples  and  tracjitions  still  lingered  on  in  Delaware.  The  same 
conservative  tendency,  the  same  distrust  of  innovation  is  seen 
again  in  the  prudent  manner  in  which  the  authorities  of  the 
State  invested  and  improved  her  portion  of  the  surplus  revenue 
distributed  among  the  States  in  1837.  With  a  half  dozen  ex 
ceptions  the  shares  allotted  to  other  members  of  the  Union 

1  See  "  Journal  of  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  At  a  Special 
Session  of  the  General  Assembly,  Commenced  and  held  at  Dover,  on 
Monday,  the  25th  day  of  November,  1861." 


158     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

have  disappeared,  in  some  instances  expended  patriotically, 
in  others  squandered  on  projects  more  or  less  visionary.  It 
has  frequently  been  observed,  too,  that  a  community  whose 
population  is  chiefly  agricultural  is  apt  to  view  with  suspicion 
any  financial  proposition  of  great  magnitude.  Whatever  the 
true  explanation  of  her  opposition  to  the  policy  of  the  Presi 
dent,  the  question  at  once  sank  to  rest  in  Delaware;  it  was 
soon  to  be  revived  elsewhere,  however,  as  will  presently  be 
seen. 

Meanwhile  army  officers  continued  to  determine,  on  their 
own  authority,  very  important  questions  relative  to  the  sur 
render  of  fugitive  slaves.  Major-General  Halleck  declared  in 
a  proclamation  of  February  23,  1862,  that  "  it  does  not  belong 
to  the  military  to  decide  upon  the  relation  of  master  and  slave. 
Such  questions  must  be  settled  by  the  civil  courts.  No  fugi 
tive  slave  will  therefore  be  admitted  within  our  lines  or  camps, 
except  when  specially  ordered  by  the  General  commanding."  1 
General  Halleck's  order  No.  3  of  November  20  preceding,  as  it 
cut  off  an  opportunity  for  the  escape  of  thousands,  occasioned 
much  bitter  discussion  both  in  and  out  of  Congress.  By  Hal 
leck  it  was  explained  in  these  words :  "  Unauthorized  per 
sons,  black  or  white,  free  or  slaves,  must  be  kept  out  of  our 
camps,  unless  we  are  willing  to  publish  to  the  enemy  every 
thing  we  do  or  intend  to  do."  This  statement,  however,  does 
not  altogether  harmonize  with  the  spirit  of  his  order.2 

General  Buell  up  to  March  6  appears  to  have  uniformly  re 
turned  this  class  of  persons,  and  on  the  26th  of  that  month 
General  Hooker  permitted  nine  citizens  of  Maryland  to  search 
for  negroes  supposed  to  have  taken  refuge  with  some  of  the 
regiments  in  his  division.  Notwithstanding  the  commander 
desired  that  no  obstacles  be  thrown  in  their  way,  trouble  oc 
curred  when  the  claimants  showed  their  authority  and  de 
manded  the  surrender  of  their  slaves.  They  were  driven  from 
1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  250.  *  Ibid.,  p.  248. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  159 

camp  because  fears  for  their  safety  were  entertained  by  some 
of  the  officers.  The  anger  of  the  soldiers  appears  to  have  been 
especially  aroused  by  the  fact  that  when  within  a  few  yards 
of  camp  the  slaveholders  fired  two  pistol  shots  at  a  negro 
who  was  running  past  them. 1 

General  Doubleday's  opinion,  as  stated  April  6,  1862,  by 
the  Assistant  Adjutant-General,  was,  "that  all  negroes 
coming  into  the  lines  of  any  of  the  camps  or  forts  under  his 
command,  are  to  be  treated  as  persons  and  not  as  chattels. 

"  Under  no  circumstances,"  continues  this  regulation,  "  hag 
the  commander  of  a  fort  or  camp  the  power  of  surrendering 
persons  claimed  as  fugitive  slaves,  as  it  cannot  be  done  without 
determining  their  character. 

"  The  additional  article  of  war  recently  passed  by  Congress 
positively  prohibits  this."  2 

Notwithstanding  the  unmistakable  tone  of  the  above,  Gen 
eral  Williams  announced  two  months  later  from  his  headquatv 
ters  at  Baton  Rouge  that  commanders  of  the  camps  and  gan 
risons  in  that  part  of  Louisiana  were  required  to  turn  all 
fugitives  beyond  the  limits  of  their  guards  and  sentinels  be 
cause  of  "  the  demoralizing  and  disorganizing  tendencies  to 
the  troops  of  harboring  runaway  negroes."8 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  the  divergence  of  sentiment 
among  Federal  commanders  on  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves. 
The  party  preferences  of  officers  served  as  a  rather  reliable 
index  to  the  treatment  of  the  fugitive  in  any  particular  case. 
This  confusion,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  arose  from  the 
failure  of  Congress  to  pass  a  law  on  the  subject,  and  to  a 
considerable  degree  from  the  absence  of  any  clearly  expressed 
policy  by  the  Administration.  Of  the  changing  opinions  of  the 
President,  however,  we  catch  an  occasional  glimpse.  Though 
the  contrabands  at  Fortress  Monroe  had,  no  doubt,  brought 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  250.  a  Ibid. 

8  Ibid.,  p.  251. 


160    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

before  him  the  entire  question  of  slavery,  the  sagacity  of 
General  Butler  had  postponed  the  necessity  of  any  announce 
ment  in  May,  1861;  but  the  subject  could  not  always  be 
avoided,  and  the  imprudence  of  Fremont  forced  a  declaration 
in  September  following.  The  events  of  another  year  were 
destined  to  produce  changes  which  even  the  wisest  could  not 
then  foresee. 

A  new  phase  of  this  troublesome  question  resulted  from 
the  capture,  November  7,  of  Hilton  Head,  South  Carolina, 
and  the  Federal  occupation  of  the  Sea  Islands,  where  the 
labor  of  slaves  abandoned  by  their  masters  was  organized 
under  authority  of  the  Treasury  Department  by  Mr.  E.  L. 
Pierce.  This  was,  probably,  intended  as  nothing  more  than  an 
experiment,  to  be  extended  if  successful.  To  interest  Govern 
ment  officials  at  Washington  in  the  work  among  these  freed- 
men,  Mr.  Pierce,  at  the  suggestion  of  Secretary  Chase,  called, 
February  15,  1862,  upon  the  President,  who  seemed  rather 
annoyed  at  the  visit,  and,  after  listening  a  few  moments,  said 
somewhat  impatiently  that  he  did  not  think  he  ought  to  be 
troubled  with  such  details;  that  "  there  seemed  to  be  an  itch 
ing  to  get  negroes  into  our  lines."  To  this  Mr.  Pierce  re 
plied  that  the  negroes  were  domiciled  there  when  the  Union 
forces  took  possession.  The  President  then  handed  his  visitor 
a  card  by  which  Mr.  Chase  was  authorized  to  give  what  in 
structions  he  thought  judicious  relative  to  Port  Royal  contra 
bands.1  This  impatience  Mr.  Pierce  explains  by  saying  that 
the  President  was  in  expectation  of  a  personal  bereavement. 
This  certainly  accounts  for  the  anxiety  and  apparent  annoy 
ance  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  his  remark  that  there  seemed  to  be 
an  "  itching  "  to  get  negroes  inside  Federal  lines  shows  that  he 
had  not  yet  deliberately  considered  the  novel  case  of  abandoned 
slaves;  abandoned  masters  had  hitherto  claimed  his  attention. 

1  Addresses  and  Papers  of  E.  L.  Pierce,  p.  87 ;   also  Letters  and  State 
Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  126. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  161 

Though  slowly,  as  it  may  have  appeared  to  radical  members 
of  his  own  party,  the  President  was  surely  approaching  the 
great  question,  and  on  March  6,  1862,  sent  to  Congress  a 
message  which  recommended  the  adoption,  and  even  proposed 
the  form,  of  a  joint  resolution  declaring : 

That  the  United  States  ought  to  cooperate  with  any  State  which  may 
adopt  gradual  abolishment  of  slavery,  giving  to  such  State  pecuniary  aid, 
to  be  used  by  such  State,  in  its  discretion,  to  compensate  for  the  incon 
veniences,  public  and  private,  produced  by  such  change  of  system.1 

As  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  self-preservation  it 
was  recommended  by  the  Executive  to  the  coordinate  branch 
of  Government;  for  to  deprive  the  cotton  States  of  the  hope 
of  being  joined  by  the  border  States  would,  he  said,  "  sub 
stantially  end  the  rebellion;  and  the  initiation  of  emancipation 
completely  deprives  them  of  it  as  to  all  the  States  initiating  it. 
The  point  is  not  that  all  the  States  tolerating  slavery  would 
very  soon,  if  at  all,  initiate  emancipation;  but  that  while  the 
offer  is  equally  made  to  all,  the  more  Northern  shall,  by  such 
initiation,  make  it  certain  to  the  more  Southern  that  in  no 
event  will  the  former  ever  join  the  latter  in  their  proposed 
confederacy."  Gradual  emancipation  he  believed  better  for  all 
concerned.  The  current  expenditures  of  the  war  would  soon 
purchase,  at  a  fair  valuation,  all  the  slaves  in  any  named  State. 
However,  it  was  proposed  as  a  matter  of  perfectly  free  choice. 
"  In  the  annual  message,  last  December,"  continued  the  Presi 
dent,  "  I  thought  fit  to  say,  '  the  Union  must  be  preserved,  and 
hence  all  indispensable  means  must  be  employed/  I  said  this 
not  hastily,  but  deliberately.  War  has  been  made  and  con 
tinues  to  be  an  indispensable  means  to  this  end.  A  practical 
re-acknowledgment  of  the  national  authority  would  render  the 
war  unnecessary,  and  it  would  at  once  cease.  If,  however, 
resistance  continues,  the  war  must  also  continue;  and  it  is 
impossible  to  foresee  all  the  incidents  which  may  attend  and  all 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  129. 


1 62    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  ruin  which  may  follow  it.  Such  as  may  seem  indispen 
sable,  or  may  obviously  promise  great  efficiency,  toward  end 
ing  the  struggle,  must  and  will  come." 

The  message  inquired  "  whether  the  pecuniary  considera 
tion  tendered  would  not  be  of  more  value  to  the  States  and 
private  persons  concerned  than  are  the  institution  and  property 
in  it,  in  the  present  aspect  of  affairs  ?  "  l 

This  was  really  a  great  step  in  advance;  by  many  it  was 
regarded  as  a  direct  and  positive  interference  with  the  domestic 
institutions  of  the  States;  it  was  certainly  a  preliminary 
movement  to  get  rid  of  slavery.  The  deliberate  opinion  of 
the  Delaware  Legislature  has  already  been  noticed. 

Easily  distinguished  in  principle  from  the  opposition  in 
Delaware  were  the  sentiments  expressed  in  Virginia  when  the 
equitable  and  generous  proposal  of  the  President  came  up  for 
consideration  in  the  Richmond  Legislature.  Mr.  Collier  sub 
mitted  to  that  body  a  preamble  and  resolution  relative  to  the 
proposition.  In  the  former  it  was  said  that  negro  slaves  hav 
ing  been  the  property  of  their  masters  for  two  hundred  and 
forty  years,  by  use  and  custom  at  first,  and  subsequently  by 
recognition  of  the  public  law,  ought  not  to  be,  and  could  not 
justly  be,  interfered  with  in  such  property  relation  by  the  State, 
by  "  the  people  in  convention  assembled  to  alter  an  existing 
constitution,  or  to  form  one  for  admission  into  the  confederacy, 
nor  by  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  the  State  in  the 
Confederate  Legislature,  nor  by  any  means  or  mode  which 
the  popular  majority  might  adopt;  and  that  the  State,  whilst 
remaining  republican  in  the  structure  of  its  government,  can 
lawfully  get  rid  of  that  species  of  property,  if  ever,  only  by  the 
free  consent  of  the  individual  owners."  For  the  State  to  de 
prive  an  individual  of  this  species  of  property  would  contra 
vene  the  indispensable  principles  of  free  government.  This 
view,  as  further  explained  by  its  author,  denied  the  power  of 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  129-130. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  163 

even  a  majority,  in  making  a  new  State  constitution,  to  dis 
turb  a  preexisting  and  resident  property.1 

Three  days  after  sending  his  recommendation  to  Congress, 
the  President  wrote  privately  to  Henry  J.  Raymond,  editor  of 
the  New  York  Times: 

I  am  grateful  to  the  New  York  journals  and  not  less  so  to  the 
"  Times  "  than  to  others,  for  their  kind  notices  of  the  late  special  message 
to  Congress. 

Your  paper,  however,  intimates  that  the  proposition,  though  well  inten- 
tioned,  must  fail  on  the  score  of  expense.  I  do  hope  you  will  reconsider 
this.  Have  you  noticed  the  facts  that  less  than  one-half  day's  cost  of  this 
war  would  pay  for  all  the  slaves  in  Delaware  at  $400  per  head  —  that 
eighty-seven  days'  cost  of  this  war  would  pay  for  all  in  Delaware,  Mary 
land,  District  of  Columbia,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri  at  the  same  price? 
Were  those  States  to  take  the  step,  do  you  doubt  that  it  would  shorten 
the  war  more  than  eighty-seven  days,  and  thus  be  an  actual  saving  of 
expense  ? 

Please  look  at  these  things  and  consider  whether  there  should  not  be 
another  article  in  the  "  Times."  * 

By  his  request  those  Congressmen  from  the  border  States 
then  in  Washington  called,  March  10,  on  Mr.  Lincoln,  who 
explained  that  his  recent  message  was  not  inimical  to  the  in 
terests  they  represented.  In  the  progress  of  the  war,  slaves 
would  come  into  camps  and  continual  irritation  be  thus  main 
tained.  In  the  border  States  that  condition  kept  alive  a  feeling 
of  hostility  to  the  Government.  He  told  them  further  "  that 
emancipation  was  a  subject  exclusively  under  the  control  of 
the  States,  and  must  be  adopted  or  rejected  by  each  for 
itself."  3 

Relative  to  this  interview  a  memorandum  of  the  Hon.  John 
W.  Crisfield,  one  of  the  Maryland  Representatives  present, 
contains  the  following  entry :  "  He  [the  President]  was  con 
stantly  annoyed  by  conflicting  and  antagonistic  complaints;  on 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1862,  pp.  799-800. 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  132. 

8  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  210. 


164  LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  one  side  a  certain  class  complained  if  the  slave  was  not 
protected  by  the  army;  persons  were  frequently  found  who, 
participating  in  these  views,  acted  in  a  way  unfriendly  to  the 
slave-holder;  on  the  other  hand,  slave-holders  complained  that 
their  rights  were  interfered  with,  their  slaves  induced  to  ab 
scond  and  protected  within  the  lines;  these  complaints  were 
numerous,  loud  and  deep;  were  a  serious  annoyance  to  him 
and  embarrassing  to  the  progress  of  the  war  .  .  .  [they] 
strengthened  the  hopes  of  the  Confederates  that  at  some  day 
the  border  States  would  unite  with  them,  and  thus  tend  to  pro 
long  the  war;  and  he  was  of  opinion,  if  this  resolution  should 
be  adopted  by  Congress  and  accepted  by  our  [the  border  slave- 
holding]  States,  these  causes  of  irritation  and  these  hopes 
would  be  removed,  and  more  would  be  accomplished  toward 
shortening  the  war  than  could  be  hoped  from  the  greatest  vic 
tory  achieved  by  Union  armies;  .  ,  .  that  he  did  not 
claim  nor  had  this  Government  any  right  to  coerce  them  " 
to  accept  the  proposition. 

To  Mr.  Noell's  remark  that  the  New  York  Tribune  favored 
the  measure  and  understood  it  to  mean  that  gradual  emancipa 
tion  must  be  accepted  or  the  border  States  would  get  some 
thing  worse,  the  President  replied  that  he  must  not  be  ex 
pected  to  quarrel  with  that  journal  before  the  right  time;  he 
hoped  never  to  have  to  do  it.  The  message  having  said  that 
"  all  indispensable  means  must  be  employed  "  to  preserve  the 
Union,  Mr.  Crisfield  inquired  pointedly,  what  would  be  the 
effect  of  the  refusal  of  a  State  to  accept  this  proposal.  Did 
the  President,  he  asked,  look  "  to  any  policy  beyond  the  accept 
ance  or  rejection  of  this  scheme."  Mr.  Lincoln  candidly  re 
plied  that  he  had  "  no  designs  beyond  the  action  of  the  States 
on  this  particular  subject,"  though  he  should  lament  their 
refusal  to  accept  it.  Mr.  Crisfield  said  "  he  did  not  think  the 
people  of  Maryland  looked  upon  slavery  as  a  permanent  in 
stitution;  and  he  did  not  know  that  they  would  be  very  re- 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  165 

luctant  to  give  it  up  if  provision  was  made  to  meet  the  loss 
and  they  could  be  rid  of  the  race;  but  they  did  not  like  to 
be  coerced  into  emancipation,  either  by  the  direct  action  of 
the  Government  or  by  indirection,  as  through  the  emancipation 
of  slaves  in  this  District,  or  the  confiscation  of  Southern 
property  as  now  threatened;  and  he  thought  before  they  would 
consent  to  consider  this  proposition  they  would  require  to  be 
informed  on  these  points."  The  President  answered  that 
"  unless  he  was  expelled  by  the  act  of  God  or  the  Confederate 
armies,  he  should  occupy  that  house  for  three  years;  and  as 
long  as  he  remained  there  Maryland  had  nothing  to  fear 
either  for  her  institutions  or  her  interests  on  the  points  referred 
to."  Representative  Crisfield  immediately  added :  "  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  if  what  you  now  say  could  be  heard  by  the  people  of 
Maryland,  they  would  consider  your  proposition  with  a  much 
better  feeling  than  I  fear  without  it  they  will  be  inclined  to 
do."  To  this  Mr.  Lincoln  said  that  a  publication  of  his  senti 
ments  would  not  do;  it  would  force  him  before  the  proper 
time  into  a  quarrel  which  was  impending  with  the  Greeley 
faction.  This  he  desired  to  postpone,  or,  if  possible,  altogether 
to  avoid. 

To  an  objection  of  Governor  Wickliffe,  of  Kentucky,  he  said 
that  the  resolution  proposed  would  be  considered  rather  as 
the  expression  of  a  sentiment  than  as  involving  any  constitu 
tional  question.  He  did  not  know  how  the  project  was  re 
ceived  by  the  members  from  the  free  States ;  some  of  them  had 
spoken  to  him  and  received  it  kindly;  but  for  the  most  part 
they  were  as  reserved  and  chary  as  the  border  State  delega 
tions;  he  could  not  tell  how  they  would  vote.1 

To  James  A.  McDougall,  of  California,  who  was  making 
some  opposition  in  the  Senate,  he  sent,  March  14,  this  private 
communication  while  the  resolution  was  still  pending: 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  133-135 ;    also 
Pherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  319-211, 


1 66     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

As  to  the  expensiveness  of  gradual  emancipation  with  the  plan  of 
compensation,  proposed  in  the  late  message,  please  allow  me  one  or  two 
brief  suggestions. 

Less  than  one  half  day's  cost  of  this  war  would  pay  for  all  the  slaves  in 
Delaware  at  four  hundred  dollars  per  head. 

Thus,  all  the  slaves  in  Delaware  by  the  census  of  1860,  are. . .  1,798 

400 


Cost  of  slaves $719,200 

One  day's  cost  of  the  war 2,000,000 


Again,  less  than  eighty-seven  days'  cost  of  this  war  would,  at  the 
same  price,  pay  for  all  in  Delaware,  Maryland,  District  of  Columbia, 
Kentucky,  and  Missouri. 

Thus,  slaves  in  Delaware 1,798 

Maryland 87,188 

District  of  Columbia 3,181 

Kentucky  225,490 

Missouri    114,965 


432,622 
400 


Cost  of  slaves $173,048,800 

Eighty-seven  days'  cost  of  war 174,000,000 


Do  you  doubt  that  taking  the  initiatory  steps  on  the  part  of  those 
States  and  this  District  would  shorten  the  war  more  than  eighty-seven 
days,  and  thus  be  an  actual  saving  of  expense? 

A  word  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of  incurring  the  expense. 
Suppose,  for  instance,  a  State  devises  and  adopts  a  system  by  which 
the  institution  absolutely  ceases  therein  by  a  named  day  —  say  January 
i,  1882.  Then  let  the  sum  to  be  paid  to  such  a  State  by  the  United 
States  be  ascertained  by  taking  from  the  census  of  1860  the  number 
of  slaves  within  the  State,  and  multiplying  the  number  by  four  hun 
dred  —  the  United  States  to  pay  such  sums  to  the  State  in  twenty  equal 
annual  installments,  in  six  per  cent,  bonds  of  the  United  States. 

The  sum  thus  given,  as  to  time  and  manner,  I  think,  would  not  be 
half  as  onerous  as  would  be  an  equal  sum  raised  now  for  the  indefinite 
prosecution  of  the  war;  but  of  this  you  can  judge  as  well  as  I.  I 
enclose  a  census  table  for  your  convenience.1 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  137-138. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  167 

On  the  same  day  of  the  conference  with  the  border  State 
delegations,  March  10,  the  resolution,  in  precisely  the  lan 
guage  suggested  by  the  President,  was  introduced  by  Roscoe 
Conkling,  and  on  the  following  day  by  a  vote  of  89  to  31 
passed  the  House.1  The  Senate  by  32  yeas  to  10  nays  took 
favorable  action  upon  it  on  the  2d  of  April  succeeding.2 

It  is  important  to  notice  that  at  this  time,  March,  1862, 
the  Government  set  up  no  claim  of  a  right  by  Federal  authority 
to  interfere  with  slavery  within  the  limits  of  a  State;  also 
that  public  opinion  in  the  North  had  advanced  to  the  position 
occupied  by  Representative  McKean  more  than  a  year  before, 
when  he  introduced  into  Congress  his  resolution  for  com 
pensated  emancipation.8 

At  a  session,  May  28,  1862,  of  the  Union  Convention  of 
Baltimore  its  Business  Committee  reported  a  series  of  resolu 
tions  which  were  adopted  unanimously,  among  them  one  ap 
proving  the  wise  and  conservative  policy  proposed  by  the 
President  in  his  message  of  March  6;  that  it  was  not  only 
the  duty  but  the  interest  of  the  loyal  people  of  Maryland  to 
accept  the  offer  of  pecuniary  aid  tendered  by  the  Government 
to  inaugurate  an  equitable  plan  of  emancipation  and  coloniza 
tion.4  This  was  the  dawn  of  emancipation  in  Maryland. 

The  President  approved,  April  16,  six  days  after  the  passage 
of  his  cherished  measure,  an  act  prohibiting  slavery  and  libera 
ting  slaves  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  included  both  com 
pensation  to  owners  and  the  principle  of  colonization.5 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1862,  pp.  346-347. 

7  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  1496. 

8  See  p.  i43tante. 

4  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  226-227. 

"The  question  of  colonizing  free  blacks  out  of  the  United  States  en 
gaged  the  attention  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  James  Monroe,  who  had 
some  correspondence  on  the  subject  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Late  in  the  year  1816  there  was  organized  in  the  city  of  Wash 
ington  the  "  National  Colonization  Society,"  of  which  the  expressed 
purpose  was  to  encourage  emancipation  by  procuring  a  place  outside  the 


168    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Shortly  before  its  passage,  April  17,  a  resolution  was  favor 
ably  considered  by  the  House  to  appoint  a  committee  of  nine 
empowered  to  report  whether  any  plan  could  be  proposed  and 
recommended  for  the  gradual  emancipation  of  all  African 
slaves  and  the  extinction  of  slavery  in  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Missouri  by  the  people  or 
local  authorities  thereof,  and  how  far  and  in  what  way  the 
United  States  could  and  ought  equitably  to  aid  in  facilitating 
either  of  the  above  objects.  This  measure  was  adopted  by 
a  vote  of  67  to  52,  and  one  week  later  a  committee  was  ap 
pointed  by  the  Speaker. 

General  Hunter  by  an  order  of  April  25  had  extended 
martial  law  over  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Florida.  Two 
weeks  later  he  proclaimed  persons  in  those  States  heretofore 
held  as  slaves  forever  free.  "  Slavery  and  martial  law  in  a 
free  country  "  he  declared  "  altogether  incompatible."  The 
President  in  his  proclamation  of  May  19,  1862,  rescinding  this 
order  once  more  reveals  his  sentiments  on  the  slavery  ques 
tion.  The  act  of  the  Department  commander,  he  said,  was 
wholly  unauthorized.  The  document  continues :  "  I  further 
make  known  that,  whether  it  be  competent  for  me,  as  Com- 
mander-in- Chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  to  declare  the  slaves 
of  any  State  or  States  free,  and  whether,  at  any  time,  in  any 

United  States,  preferably  in  Africa,  to  which  free  negroes  could  be  aided 
in  emigrating.  This,  it  was  believed,  would  rid  the  South  of  its  free 
colored  population  which  had  already  become  a  nuisance.  Until  1830  it 
was  warmly  supported  everywhere,  and  branches  of  the  society  were 
established  in  nearly  every  State.  In  the  South  its  purposes  were  fur 
thered  by  James  Madison,  by  Charles  Carroll  and  by  Henry  Clay. 
Bushrod  Washington  became  president  of  the  association.  Rufus  King 
and  President  Harrison  were  among  its  friends  in  the  North. 

Though  Texas  and  Mexico  were  looked  upon  as  favorable  places  for 
locating  a  colony  of  free  blacks,  they  were  sent  to  the  British  possession 
of  Sierra  Leone.  In  1821  a  permanent  location  was  purchased  in  Liberia. 
This  settlement,  with  Monrovia  as  its  capital,  became  independent  in  1847. 
The  American  Colonization  Society  attracted  little  notice  after  the  rise, 
about  1829-30,  of  those  known  as  immediate  abolitionists, 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  169 

case,  it  shall  have  become  a  necessity  indispensable  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  Government  to  exercise  such  supposed 
power,  are  questions  which,  under  my  responsibility,  I  reserve 
to  myself,  and  which  I  cannot  feel  justified  in  leaving  to  the 
decision  of  commanders  in  the  field."  l 

'Mr.  Lincoln  took  this  opportunity  to  point  out  to  those  most 
nearly  concerned  the  unmistakable  signs  of  the  times,  and 
earnestly  appealed  to  them  to  embrace  the  offer  of  compensated 
abolishment,  quoting  upon  that  subject  the  joint  resolution  of 
Congress.  The  order  of  General  Hunter,  so  far  as  it  con 
cerned  the  President,  could  have  been  dismissed  by  its  dis 
avowal  ;  but  he  went  farther :  he  not  only  took  advantage  of 
this  occasion  earnestly  to  urge  upon  the  border  States  very 
serious  consideration  of  the  principle  of  compensated  emanci 
pation,  but  he  raised,  without  pausing  to  discuss  it,  the  ques 
tion  of  his  right  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  to  declare  the  freedom  of  slaves  within  the  limits  of  a 
State  should  such  a  measure  become  indispensable  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  Union. 

For  refusing  to  employ  his  regiment  in  returning  fugitive 
slaves  of  disloyal  masters,  Colonel  Paine,  of  the  Fourth  Wis 
consin  Volunteers,  was  placed  under  arrest  in  the  summer  of 
1862;  about  the  same  time  Lieutenant-Colonel  Anthony  was 
similarly  disciplined  both  for  refusing  permission  to  search 
his  camp  and  for  ordering  the  arrest  of  those  hunting  for 
slaves.2 

Instructions  from  the  War  Department,  dated  July  22,  and 
applying  to  all  the  States  in  rebellion  except  South  Carolina 
and  Tennessee,  authorized  the  employment  as  laborers  of  so 
many  persons  of  African  descent  as  the  military  and  naval 
commanders  could  use  to  advantage,  and  the  payment  of  rea 
sonable  wages  for  their  labor. 3 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  155. 
*  McPherson's  Pol,  Hist.,  p.  251.  *  Ibid.,  p.  252, 


170    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

On  May  12,  1862,  Representative  Lovejoy  proposed  a  bill, 
a  substitute  for  one  previously  reported  by  him  and  intro 
duced  by  Mr.  Isaac  N.  Arnold : 

To  the  end  that  freedom  may  be  and  remain  forever  the  funda 
mental  law  of  the  land  in  all  places  whatsoever,  so  far  as  it  lies  within 
the  powers  or  depends  upon  the  action  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  make  it  so:  Therefore, 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  slavery  or  invol 
untary  servitude,  in  all  cases  whatsoever  (other  than  in  the  punishment 
of  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted)  shall  hence 
forth  cease,  and  be  prohibited  forever  in  all  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States,  now  existing,  or  hereafter  to  be  formed  or  acquired  in 


This  measure  passed  by  85  yeas  to  50  nays.  In  the  Senate, 
June  9,  it  was  reported  amended  by  inserting  this  substitute : 
"  That  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act  there  shall  be 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  any  of  the  Terri 
tories  of  the  United  States  now  existing,  or  which  may  at 
any  time  hereafter  be  formed  or  acquired  by  the  United  States, 
otherwise  than  in  punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the  party 
shall  have  been  duly  convicted."  In  this  form  it  passed  by  a 
vote  of  28  to  10  and  the  House  concurred  by  72  yeas  to  38 
nays.2 

Charles  Sumner,  writing  June  5,  1862,  to  a  correspondent 
who  was  impatient  at  what  seemed  the  short-comings  of  the 
President,  says: 

Your  criticism  of  the  President  is  hasty.  I  am  confident  that,  if  you 
knew  him  as  I  do,  you  would  not  make  it. 

Of  course,  the  President  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  all  the  misfea 
sances  of  subordinates,  unless  adopted  or  at  least  tolerated  by  him. 
And  I  am  sure  that  nothing  unjust  or  ungenerous  will  be  tolerated,  much 
less  adopted,  by  him. 

I  am  happy  to  let  you  know  that  he  has  no  sympathy  with  Stanly  in  his 
absurd  wickedness,  closing  the  schools,  nor  again  in  his  other  act  of 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  2  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  2068. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  2618.    Ibid.,  p.  2769. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  171 

turning  our  camp  into  a  hunting  ground  for  slaves.  He  repudiates 
both  —  positively.  The  latter  point  has  occupied  much  of  his  thought; 
and  the  newspapers  have  not  gone  too  far  in  recording  his  repeated 
declarations,  which  I  have  often  heard  from  his  own  lips,  that  slaves 
finding  their  way  into  the  national  lines  are  never  to  be  re-enslaved. 
This  is  his  conviction,  expressed  without  reserve. 

Could  you  have  seen  the  President  — as  it  was  my  privilege  often  — 
while  he  was  considering  the  great  questions  on  which  he  has  already 
acted — the  invitation  to  emancipation  in  the  States,  emancipation  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  the  acknowledgment  of  the  independence  of 
Hayti  and  Liberia  —  even  your  zeal  would  have  been  satisfied,  for  you 
would  have  felt  the  sincerity  of  his  purpose  to  do  what  he  could  to 
carry  forward  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  His 
whole  soul  was  occupied,  especially  by  the  first  proposition,  which  was 
peculiarly  his  own.  In  familiar  intercourse  with  him,  I  remember 
nothing  more  touching  than  the  earnestness  and  completeness  with 
which  he  embraced  this  idea.  To  his  mind,  it  was  just  and  beneficent 
while  it  promised  the  sure  end  of  slavery.  Of  course,  to  me  who  had 
already  proposed  a  bridge  of  gold  for  the  retreating  fiend,  it  was 
most  welcome.  Proceeding  from  the  President,  it  must  take  its  place 
among  the  great  events  of  history. 


I  wish  that  you  really  knew  the  President,  and  had  heard  the  artless 
expression  of  his  convictions  on  these  questions  which  concern  you  so 
deeply.  You  might,  perhaps,  wish  that  he  were  less  cautious,  but  you 
would  be  grateful  that  he  is  so  true  to  all  that  you  have  .at  heart. 
Believe  me,  therefore,  you  are  wrong,  and  I  regret  it  the  more  because 
of  my  desire  to  see  all  our  friends  stand  firmly  together.1 

The  President  requested  and  obtained,  July  12,  1862,  an 
interview  with  the  border  State  delegations.  The  near  ad 
journment  of  Congress  would  deprive  him  of  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  them  for  several  months.  He  believed  they  held 
more  power  for  good  than  any  other  equal  number  of  mem 
bers,  and  felt  that  the  duty  of  making  an  appeal  to  them 
could  not  be  waived.  This  he  did  by  reading  a  carefully 
prepared  paper. 

The  Confederate  States,  he  said,  would  cling  to  the  hope  of 
an  ultimate  union  with  the  border  States  as  long  as  they  per- 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  233. 


1 72    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

petuated  the  institution  of  slavery.  If  the  members  had  sup 
ported  his  plan  of  gradual  emancipation  in  the  preceding 
March  the  rebellion  would  now,  1862,  be  substantially  ended. 

Looking  to  the  stern  facts  in  the  case  he  inquired  whether 
they  could  do  better  for  their  States  than  to  follow  the  course 
which  he  urged.  If  the  war  continued  long,  the  institution 
"will  be  extinguished  by  mere  friction  and  abrasion," — by 
the  incidents  of  war  much  of  its  value  was  already  gone.  He 
did  not  speak  of  immediate  emancipation,  "  but  of  a  decision 
at  once  to  emancipate  gradually."  Room  for  colonization 
could  be  procured  in  South  America  ample  and  cheap  enough. 
When  their  numbers  increased  sufficiently  to  be  company  for 
one  another  the  freed  people  would  not  be  so  reluctant  to 
go.  His  repudiation  of  General  Hunter's  proclamation  had 
given  offence  to  some  whose  support  the  Government  could 
not  afford  to  lose.  The  pressure  from  such  persons  was  still 
upon  him  and  the  Congressmen  from  the  border  slave  States 
could  relieve  him  and  the  country.  He  begged  them  to  re- 
examine  his  message  of  March  6,  and  commend  it  to  the 
consideration  of  their  constituents.  The  peril  of  their  common 
country-  demanded  the  loftiest  views  and  the  boldest  action  if 
they  desired  to  perpetuate  popular  government.1 

It  was  represented  to  him,  in  a  conversation  which  followed 
this  appeal,  that  the  resolution  of  Congress,  being  no  more 
than  an  expression  of  sentiment,  could  not  be  regarded  by  them 
as  a  basis  for  substantial  action.  Mr.  Lincoln  admitted  that, 
as  a  condition  of  taking  into  consideration  a  proposition  so 
nearly  affecting  their  social  system,  the  border  slave  States 
were  entitled  to  expect  a  substantial  pledge  of  pecuniary 
aid. 

It  was  further  represented  at  this  conference  that  the  people 
of  the  border  States  were  interested  in  knowing  the  great  im 
portance  which  Mr.  Lincoln  attached  to  the  policy  in  ques- 

1  Jitters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  204-205, 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  173 

tion,  while  it  was  equally  due  to  the  country,  to  the  President 
and  to  themselves  that  they  should  publicly  announce  the 
motives  under  which  they  were  called  to  act,  and  the  considera 
tions  of  public  policy  urged  upon  them  and  their  constituents. 
With  a  view  to  such  a  statement  of  their  position  the  members 
met  in  council  to  deliberate  on  the  reply  they  should  make, 
and  two  days  later  the  majority  sent  the  following  paper  to 
the  President: 

"  The  undersigned  .  .  .  have  listened  to  your  ad 
dress  with  the  profound  sensibility  naturally  inspired  by  the 
high  source  from  which  it  emanates,  the  earnestness  which 
marked  its  delivery,  and  the  overwhelming  importance  of  the 
subject  of  which  it  treats.  We  have  given  it  our  most  repect- 
ful  consideration,  and  now  lay  before  you  our  response.  .  .  . 

"  .  .  .  Repudiating  the  dangerous  heresies  of  the 
secessionists,  we  believed,  with  you,  that  the  war  on  their 
part  is  aggressive  and  wicked,  and  the  objects  for  which  it 
was  to  be  prosecuted  on  ours,  defined  by  your  message  at  the 
opening  of  the  present  Congress,  to  be  such  as  all  good  men 
should  approve.  We  have  not  hesitated  to  vote  all  supplies 
necessary  to  carry  it  on  vigorously.  .  .  . 

This  support,  continues  the  response,  was  yielded  "  in  the 
face  of  measures  most  distasteful  to  us  and  injurious  to  the 
interests  we  represent,  and  in  the  hearing  of  doctrines,  avowed 
by  those  who  claim  to  be  your  friends,  [which]  must  be 
abhorrent  to  us  and  our  constituents." 

The  greater  number  of  them  did  not,  however,  vote  for  the 
measure  recommended  in  his  message  of  March  6,  and  they 
proceeded  to  state  the  principal  reasons  which  influenced  their 
action.  First,  it  proposed  a  radical  change  in  their  social  sys 
tem;  it  was  hurried  through  both  Houses  with  undue  haste; 
and  was  passed  without  any  opportunity  whatever  for  consul 
tation  with  their  constituents,  whose  interests  it  deeply  in 
volved.  "  It  seemed,"  said  the  majority,  "  like  an  interference 


I74     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

by  this  Government  with  a  question  which  peculiarly  and  ex 
clusively  belonged  to  our  respective  States,  on  which  they  had 
not  sought  advice  or  solicited  aid.  Many  of  us  doubted  the 
constitutional  power  of  this  Government  to  make  appropria 
tions  of  money  for  the  object  designated,  and  all  of  us  thought 
our  finances  were  in  no  condition  to  bear  the  immense  outlay 
which  its  adoption  and  faithful  execution  would  impose  upon 
the  national  Treasury.  If  we  pause  but  a  moment  to  think  of 
the  debt  its  acceptance  would  have  entailed,  we  are  appalled  by 
its  magnitude.  The  proposition  was  addressed  to  all  the 
States  and  embraced  the  whole  number  of  slaves." 

The  census  of  1860  showed  a  slave  population  of  nearly 
4,000,000;  from  natural  increase  the  number  in  1862  ex 
ceeded  that.  "  At  even  the  low  average  of  $300,  the  price 
fixed  by  the  emancipation  act  for  the  slaves  of  this  District, 
and  greatly  below  their  real  worth,  their  value  runs  up  to  the 
enormous  sum  of  $1,200,000,000;  and  if  to  that  we  add  the 
cost  of  deportation  and  colonization,  at  $100  each,  which  is 
but  a  fraction  more  than  is  actually  paid  by  the  Maryland 
Colonization  Society,  we  have  $400,000,000  more.  They  were 
not  willing  nor  could  the  country  bear  a  tax  sufficient  to  pay 
the  interest  on  that  sum  in  addition  to  the  vast  and  daily  in 
creasing  debt  already  fixed  upon  them  by  the  exigencies  of 
the  war.  The  proposition  is  nothing  less  than  the  deportation 
from  the  country  of  $1,600,000,000  worth  of  producing  labor 
and  the  substitution  of  an  interest-bearing  debt  of  the  same 
amount.  Even  if  it  were  expected  that  only  the  border  States 
would  accept  the  proposition,  that  involved  a  sum  too  great 
for  the  financial  ability  of  the  Government  at  this  time.  The 
total  number  of  slaves  in  those  States  according  to  the  late 
census  was  1,196,112.  The  same  rate  of  valuation  with  ex 
penses  of  deportation  and  colonization  gives  the  enormous 
sum  of  $478,038,133. 

"  We  did  not  feel  that  we  should  be  justified  in  voting  for  a 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  175 

measure  which,  if  carried  out,  would  add  this  vast  amount  to 
our  public  debt  at  a  moment  when  the  Treasury  was  reeling 
under  the  enormous  expenditure  of  the  war." 

To  them  the  resolution  seemed  no  more  than  the  enunciation 
of  a  sentiment.  "  No  movement  was  then  made  to  provide  and 
appropriate  the  funds  required  to  carry  it  into  effect;  and  we 
were  not  encouraged  to  believe  that  funds  would  be  provided. 
And  our  belief  has  been  fully  justified  by  subsequent  events. 
Not  to  mention  other  circumstances,  it  is  quite  sufficient  for 
our  purpose  to  bring  to  your  notice  the  fact  that,  while  this 
resolution  was  under  consideration  in  the  Senate  our  colleague, 
the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  moved  an  amendment  appropri 
ating  $500,000  to  the  object  therein  designated,  and  it  was 
voted  down  with  great  unanimity.  What  confidence,  then, 
could  we  reasonably  feel  that  if  we  committed  ourselves  to 
the  policy  it  proposed,  our  constituents  would  reap  the  fruits 
of  the  promise  held  out;  and  on  what  ground  could  we,  as 
fair  men,  approach  them  and  challenge  their  support?  " 

They  denied  that  if,  as  the  President  alleged,  they  had 
supported  the  resolution  of  March  6,  the  war  would  be  sub 
stantially  ended,  and  they  added,  "  The  resolution  has  passed 
and  if  there  be  virtue  in  it,  it  will  be  quite  as  efficacious  as  if 
we  had  voted  for  it." 

The  war,  they  asserted,  was  prolonged  not  by  reason  of 
their  conduct,  but  because  of  the  union  of  all  classes  in  the 
South.  Those  who  wished  to  break  down  national  inde 
pendence  and  set  up  State  domination,  the  State-rights  party, 
could  not  be  reconciled;  but  the  large  class  who  believed  their 
domestic  interests  had  been  assailed  by  the  Government  might 
be  if  only  they  were  convinced  "  that  no  harm  is  intended  to 
them  and  their  institutions,"  but  that  the  Government  was 
simply  defending  its  legitimate  authority. 

"  Twelve  months  ago,"  adds  this  response,  "  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  adopting  the  spirit  of  your  message,  then  but 


176    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

recently  sent  in,  declared  with  singular  unanimity  the  objects 
of  the  war,  and  the  country  instantly  bounded  to  your  side 
to  assist  you  in  carrying  it  on.  If  the  spirit  of  that  resolution 
had  been  adhered  to,  we  are  confident  that  we  should  before 
now  have  seen  the  end  of  this  deplorable  conflict.  But  what 
have  we  seen  ? 

"  In  both  Houses  of  Congress  we  have  heard  doctrines  sub 
versive  of  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  and  seen  measure 
after  measure  founded  in  substance  on  those  doctrines  pro 
posed  and  carried  through  which  can  have  no  other  effect  than 
to  distract  and  divide  loyal  men,  and  exasperate  and  drive  still 
further  from  us  and  their  duty  the  people  of  the  rebellious 
States.  Military  officers,  following  these  bad  examples,  have 
stepped  beyond  the  just  limits  of  their  authority  in  the  same 
direction,  until  in  several  instances  you  have  felt  the  necessity 
of  interfering  to  arrest  them.  .  .  .  The  effect  of  these 
measures  was  foretold,  and  may  now  be  seen  in  the  indurated 
state  of  Southern  feeling." 

To  these  causes,  and  not  to  the  failure  of  the  border  delega 
tions  to  support  the  measure,  they  attributed  the  terrible  ear 
nestness  of  those  in  arms  against  the  Government.  Nor  was 
the  institution  of  slavery  the  source  of  insurgent  strength, 
but  rather  the  apprehension  that  the  powers  of  a  common 
Government  would  be  wielded  against  the  institutions  of  the 
Southern  States. 

The  reply  concludes :  "  If  Congress,  by  proper  and  neces 
sary  legislation,  shall  provide  sufficient  funds  and  place  them 
at  your  disposal,  to  be  applied  by  you  to  the  payment  of  any 
of  our  States  or  the  citizens  thereof  who  shall  adopt  the  abol 
ishment  of  slavery,  either  gradual  or  immediate,  as  they  may 
determine,  and  the  expense  of  deportation  and  colonization  of 
the  liberated  slaves,  then  will  our  State [s]  and  people  take  this 
proposition  into  careful  consideration,  for  such  decision  as 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  177 

in  their  judgment  is  demanded  by  their  interest,  their  honor, 
and  their  duty  to  the  whole  country/' l 

The  minority,  seven  in  number,  in  their  reply  of  the  I5th 
declared  themselves  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  to  save  the 
Government  and  the  institutions  of  their  fathers,  and  promised 
to  ask  the  people  of  their  States  calmly,  deliberately  and  fairly 
to  consider  the  recommendations  of  the  President;  they  were 
encouraged  to  assume  this  position  because  the  leaders  of  the 
rebellion  had  offered  to  abolish  slavery  among  them  as  a 
condition  of  foreign  intervention  in  favor  of  their  independence 
as  a  nation.2 

Horace  Maynard,  though  not  representing  a  border  State 
proper,  expressed  his  approval  of  the  President's  policy  and 
stated  the  physical  impossibility  of  submitting  to  the  considera 
tion  of  his  people  that  or  any  other  proposition  until  Tennessee 
had  first  been  freed  from  hostile  arms. 3 

A  fourth  paper  submitted  to  the  President  was  that  of 
Senator  J.  B.  Henderson,  of  Missouri,  who  had  cheerfully 
supported  the  measure  at  the  time  of  its  introduction;  he 
believed  the  proposition  would  have  received  the  approbation 
of  a  large  majority  of  the  border  State  delegations  if  they 
could  have  foreseen  that  the  war  would  have  been  protracted 
a  twelvemonth  and  had  felt  assured  that  the  dominant  party  in 
Congress  would,  like  the  President,  be  as  prompt  in  practical 
action  as  they  had  been  in  the  expression  of  a  sentiment.  "  In 
this  period  of  the  nation's  distress,"  says  Senator  Henderson, 
"  I  know  of  no  human  institution  too  sacred  for  discussion; 
no  material  interest  belonging  to  the  citizen  that  he  should  not 
willingly  place  upon  the  altar  of  his  country,  if  demanded  by 
the  public  good."  4 

Mr.  Henderson  did  not  agree  with  the  opinion  of  the  Presi- 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  214-217.  *  Ibid.,  pp.  217-218. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  218.  4  Ibid.,  pp.  218-220. 


178    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

dent  that  "  the  war  would  now  be  substantially  ended  "  had 
the  members  from  the  border  States  supported  the  measure 
in  the  preceding  March.  Personally  he  was  favorable  to  the 
proposition,  but  remembered  that  he  was  the  servant  not  the 
master  of  the  people  of  Missouri. 

To  the  sudden  and  unexpected  collapse  of  McClellan's 
Richmond  campaign  has  been  ascribed  the  determination  of 
President  Lincoln  to  adopt  general  military  emancipation  so 
much  sooner  than  he  otherwise  would  have  done.  The  great 
and  decisive  element  of  military  strength  in  the  slave  popula 
tion  which  he  saw  so  clearly  a  little  later  could  not  even  then, 
June  and  July,  1862,  have  been  altogether  concealed  from  his 
keen  insight  into  affairs.  His  personal  appeal  to  the  border 
Congressmen  was  made  July  12;  the  result  of  that  conference 
he  easily  anticipated.  Nor  was  the  receipt  of  their  written 
replies  necessary  to  inform  him  that  his  offer  would  be  re 
jected.  So  much  he  could  readily  collect  from  their  oral 
objections  and  verbal  criticisms.  The  decision  to  give  notice 
of  his  intention  to  issue  a  proclamation  concerning  slavery  was 
probably  made  within  a  few  hours  after  he  had  assured  Mr. 
Crisfield  that  the  emancipation  policy  extended  no  farther  than 
to  a  refusal  of  the  border  States  to  accept  his  tender  of  pecuni 
ary  aid  to  any  commonwealth  voluntarily  adopting  the  plan  of 
gradual  abolishment.  However  this  may  be,  he  confided  on 
the  following  day,  July  13,  1862,  to  Secretaries  Seward  and 
Welles  his  intention  to  emancipate  slaves  by  proclamation 
if  their  masters  did  not  cease  to  make  war  on  the  Govern 
ment.  From  the  diary  of  the  latter,  we  learn  under  what 
circumstances  this  important  communication  was  made. 

President  Lincoln  [writes  Mr.  Welles]  invited  me  to  accompany  him  in 
his  carriage  to  the  funeral  of  an  infant  child  of  Mr.  Stanton.  Secretary 
Seward  and  Mrs.  Frederick  Seward  were  also  in  the  carriage.  Mr. 
Stanton  occupied  at  that  time,  for  a  summer  residence,  the  house  of  a 
naval  officer,  some  two  or  three  miles  west  or  northwesterly  of  George 
town.  It  was  on  this  occasion  and  on  this  ride  that  he  first  mentioned 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  179 

to  Mr.  Seward  and  myself  the  subject  of  emancipating  the  slaves  by 
proclamation  in  case  the  rebels  did  not  cease  to  persist  in  their  war 
on  the  Government  and  the  Union,  of  which  he  saw  no  evidence.  He 
dwelt  earnestly  on  the  gravity,  importance,  and  delicacy  of  the  move 
ment;  said  he  had  given  it  much  thought,  and  had  about  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  a  military  necessity,  absolutely  essential  for  the 
salvation  of  the  nation,  that  we  must  free  the  slaves  or  be  ourselves  sub 
dued,  etc.,  etc.  This  was,  he  said,  the  first  occasion  where  he  had 
mentioned  the  subject  to  any  one,  and  wished  us  to  frankly  state  how  the 
proposition  struck  us.  Mr.  Seward  said  the  subject  involved  conse 
quences  so  vast  and  momentous  that  he  should  wish  to  bestow  on  it 
mature  reflection  before  giving  a  decisive  answer;  but  his  present 
opinion  inclined  to  the  measure  as  justifiable,  and  perhaps  he  might  say 
expedient  and  necessary.  These  were  also  my  views.  Two  or  three 
times  on  that  ride  the  subject,  which  was  of  course  an  absorbing  one 
for  each  and  all,  was  adverted  to,  and  before  separating,  the  President 
desired  us  to  give  the  subject  special  and  deliberate  attention,  for  he 
was  earnest  in  the  conviction  that  something  must  be  done.  It  was 
a  new  departure  for  the  President,  for  until  this  time,  in  all  our  pre 
vious  interviews,  whenever  the  question  of  emancipation  or  the  miti 
gation  of  slavery  had  been  in  any  way  alluded  to,  he  had  been  prompt 
and  emphatic  in  denouncing  any  interference  by  the  General  Govern 
ment  with  the  subject.  This  was,  I  think,  the  sentiment  o£  every 
member  of  the  Cabinet,  all  of  whom,  including  the  President,  con 
sidered  it  a  local  domestic  question  appertaining  to  the  States  respec 
tively,  who  had  never  parted  with  their  authority  over  it.  But  the 
reverses  before  Richmond,  and  the  formidable  power  and  dimensions 
of  the  insurrection,  which  extended  through  all  the  slave  States  and  had 
combined  most  of  them  in  a  confederacy  to  destroy  the  Union,  im 
pelled  the  Administration  to  adopt  extraordinary  measures  to  preserve 
the  national  existence.  The  slaves,  if  not  armed  and  disciplined,  were 
in  the  service  of  those  who  were,  not  only  as  field  laborers  and  pro 
ducers,  but  thousands  of  them  were  in  attendance  upon  the  armies  in 
the  field,  employed  as  waiters  and  teamsters,  and  the  fortifications  and 
intrenchments  were  constructed  by  them.1 

The  session  of  Congress  was  drawing  to  a  close,  but  before 
adjournment  the  Confiscation  Act,  passed  July  17,  1862,  was 
approved  by  the  President.  This  with  kindred  laws  increased 
the  number  of  forfeitures  of  title  to  slaves  for  the  crimes  of 

1  Quoted  in  Nicolay  and  Hay's  Abraham  Lincoln,    A  History.    Vol. 
VI.  p.  121  et  seq. 


i8o     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

treason  and  rebellion.    These  penalties  were  by  him  considered 
just  and  their  imposition  constitutional. 

Within  five  days  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress  the 
President,  July  21,  1862,  reached  his  final  conclusions  on  the 
subject  of  emancipation.  The  diary  of  Secretary  Chase  con 
tains  the  following  record : 

[Having  received  notice  of  a  Cabinet  meeting,  Mr.  Chase  says:]  I 
went  to  the  President's  at  the  appointed  hour  and  found  that  he  was 
profoundly  concerned  at  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  and  had  deter 
mined  to  take  some  definite  steps  in  respect  to  military  action  and 
slavery.  He  had  prepared  several  orders,  the  first  of  which  contem 
plated  authority  to  commanders  to  subsist  their  troops  in  the  hostile 
territory;  the  second,  authority  to  employ  negroes  as  laborers;  the  third, 
requiring  that  both  in  case  of  property  taken  and  negroes  employed, 
accounts  should  be  kept  with  such  degree  of  certainty  as  would  enable 
compensation  to  be  made  in  proper  cases.  Another  provided  for  the 
colonization  of  negroes  in  some  tropical  country. 

A  good  deal  of  discussion  took  place  upon  these  points.  The  first 
order  was  unanimously  approved.  The  second  was  also  unanimously 
approved ;  and  the  third  by  all  except  myself.  I  doubted  the  expediency 
of  attempting  to  keep  accounts  for  the  benefit  of  inhabitants  of  rebel 
States.  The  colonization  project  was  not  much  discussed. 

The  Secretary  of  War  presented  some  letters  from  General  Hunter,  in 
which  General  Hunter  advised  the  Department  that  the  withdrawal  of  a 
large  proportion  of  his  troops  to  reenforce  General  McClellan  rendered 
it  highly  important  that  he  should  be  immediately  authorized  to  enlist 
all  loyal  persons  without  reference  to  complexion.  Mr.  Stanton,  Mr. 
Seward,  and  myself  expressed  ourselves  in  favor  of  this  plan,  and  no 
one  expressed  himself  against  it.  Mr.  Blair  was  not  present.  The 
President  was  not  prepared  to  decide  the  question,  but  expressed 
himself  as  averse  to  arming  negroes.1 

This  Cabinet  meeting  came  to  no  final  conclusion,  and,  as 
we  learn  from  the  same  source,  the  discussion  was  resumed  on 
the  following  day,  July  22,  when  the  question  of  arming  the 
slaves  was  brought  up. 

I  advocated  it  warmly  [writes  Secretary  Chase].1  The  President  was 
unwilling  to  adopt  this  measure,  but  proposed  to  issue  a  proclamation 

1  Schuckers'  Life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  pp.  439-440. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  440. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  181 

on  the  basis  of  the  Confiscation  Bill,  calling  upon  the  States  to  return 
to  their  allegiance  —  warning  rebels  that  the  provisions  of  the  act  would 
have  full  force  at  the  expiration  of  sixty  days  —  adding,  on  his  own  part, 
a  declaration  of  his  intention  to  renew,  at  the  next  session  of  Congress, 
his  recommendation  of  compensation  to  States  adopting  gradual  abol 
ishment  of  slavery  —  and  proclaiming  the  emancipation  of  all  slaves 
within  States  remaining  in  insurrection  on  the  first  day  of  January,  I863.1 

Mr.  Chase  promised  the  measure  his  cordial  support,  but 
preferred  that  no  new  expression  on  the  subject  of  compensa 
tion  be  made  at  that  time.  Secretary  Chase,  in  the  diary  men 
tioned,  says :  "  The  impression  left  upon  my  mind  by  the 
whole  discussion  was,  that,  while  the  President  thought  that 
the  organization,  equipment,  and  arming  of  negroes,  like  other 
soldiers,  would  be  productive  of  more  evil  than  good,  he  was 
not  unwilling  that  commanders  should,  at  their  discretion,  arm 
for  purely  defensive  purposes,  slaves  coming  within  their 
lines."2  On  the  kindred  policy  of  emancipation,  however, 
the  President  had  reached  a  definite  conclusion  which  was  in 
advance  of  the  opinions  entertained  by  even  the  most  radical 
members  of  his  Cabinet.  When,  therefore,  he  read  to  them, 
on  July  22,  his  draft  of  an  emancipation  proclamation  they 
were  for  the  most  part  taken  completely  by  surprise.  This 
momentous  document  deserves  to  be  reproduced  entire. 

In  pursuance  of  the  sixth  section  of  the  act  of  Congress  entitled  "  An 
act  to  suppress  insurrection  and  to  punish  treason  and  rebellion,  to 
seize  and  confiscate  property  of  rebels,  and  for  other  purposes,"  ap 
proved  July  17,  1862,  and  which  act  and  the  joint  resolution  explanatory 
thereof  are  herewith  published,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  do  hereby  proclaim  to  and  warn  all  persons  within  the 
contemplation  of  said  sixth  section  to  cease  participating  in,  aiding, 
countenancing,  or  abetting  the  existing  rebellion,  or  any  rebellion, 
against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  return  to  their 
proper  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  on  pain  of  the  forfeitures  and 
seizures  as  within  and  by  said  sixth  section  provided. 

And  I  hereby  make  known  that  it  is  my  purpose,  upon  the  next 
meeting  of  Congress,  to  again  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  practical 

'Shuckers'  Life  of  Chase,  pp.  440-44L  a  Ibid.,  p.  441- 


1 82    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

measure  for  tendering  pecuniary  aid  to  the  free  choice  or  rejection  of  anj 
and  all  States  which  may  then  be  recognizing  and  practically  sustaining 
the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  which  may  then  have  volun 
tarily  adopted,  or  thereafter  may  voluntarily  adopt,  gradual  abolishment 
of  slavery  within  such  State  or  States;  that  the  object  is  to  practically 
restore,  thenceforward  to  be  maintained,  the  constitutional  relation 
between  the  General  Government  and  each  and  all  the  States  wherein 
that  relation  is  now  suspended  or  disturbed;  and  that  for  this  object 
the  war,  as  it  has  been,  will  be  prosecuted.  And  as  a  fit  and  necessary 
military  measure  for  effecting  this  object,  I  as  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  do  order  and  declare  that  on 
the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  State 
or  States  wherein  the  constitutional  authority  of  the  United  States 
shall  not  then  be  practically  recognized,  submitted  to,  and  maintained, 
shall  then,  thenceforward,  and  forever  be  free.1 

The  diary  of  Secretary  Chase,  as  well  as  the  President's 
endorsement  on  his  draft,  shows  the  emancipation  proclama 
tion  to  have  been  read  to  the  Cabinet  July  22,  1862.  Various 
suggestions  were  offered;  but  except  an  objection  of  Secretary 
Seward  they  had  all  been  fully  anticipated  by  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  settled  in  hisx  own  mind.  Secretary  Seward  said :  "  Mr. 
President,  I  approve  of  the  proclamation,  but  I  question  the 
expediency  of  its  issue  at  this  juncture.  The  depression  of 
the  public  mind,  consequent  upon  our  repeated  reverses,  is  so 
great  that  I  fear  the  effect  of  so  important  a  step.  It  may  be 
viewed  as  the  last  measure  of  an  exhausted  Government,  a 
cry  for  help;  the  Government  stretching  forth  its  hands  to 
Ethiopia,  instead  of  Ethiopia  stretching  forth  her  hands  to  the 
Government." 

Speaking  afterwards  of  this  incident,  Mr.  Lincoln  said: 
"  Seward's  idea  was  '  that  it  would  be  considered  our  last 
shriek  on  the  retreat.  Now/  added  Mr.  Seward,  '  while  I 
approve  the  measure,  I  suggest,  sir,  that  you  postpone  its  issue, 
until  you  can  give  it  to  the  country  supported  by  military  suc 
cess,  instead  of  issuing  it,  as  would  be  the  case  now,  upon  the 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  213. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  183 

greatest  disasters  of  the  war ! '  The  wisdom  of  this  view," 
said  Mr.  Lincoln  in  recalling  the  occasion,  "  struck  me  with 
very  great  force.  It  was  an  aspect  of  the  case  that,  in  all  my 
thought  upon  the  subject,  I  had  entirely  overlooked.  The 
result  was  that  I  put  the  draft  of  the  proclamation  aside,  as 
you  do  your  sketch  for  a  picture,  waiting  for  a  victory."  l 

Instead  of  the  proclamation  so  carefully  discussed,  a  short 
one  was  published  three  days  later,  of  which  the  most  im 
portant  part  is  as  follows : 

In  pursuance  of  the  sixth  section  of  the  act  of  Congress  entitled 
"  An  act  to  suppress  insurrection  and  to  punish  treason  and  rebellion, 
to  seize  and  confiscate  the  property  of  rebels,  and  for  other  purposes," 
approved  July  17,  1862,  and  which  act,  and  the  joint  resolution  explana 
tory  thereof,  are  herewith  published,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President 
of  the  United  States,  do  hereby  proclaim  to  and  warn  all  persons 
within  the  contemplation  of  said  sixth  section  to  cease  participating  in, 
aiding,  countenancing,  or  abetting  the  existing  rebellion,  or  any  rebel 
lion,  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  return  to  their 
proper  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  on  pain  of  the  forfeitures  and 
seizures  as  within  and  by  said  sixth  section  provided.8 

This  warning  was  required  by  the  sixth  section  of  the  act 
mentioned. 

During  the  following  month  President  Lincoln  waited  pa 
tiently  for  tidings  of  some  unquestioned  success  that  would 
justify  the  publication  of  his  proclamation,  but  when  instead 
he  received  in  the  closing  days  of  August  intelligence  of  the 
second  disaster  at  Manassas  his  anxiety  must  have  become  in 
tense.  This  victory,  together  with  the  succession  of  others  re 
cently  attending  Confederate  arms,  encouraged  General  Lee's 
invasion  of  Maryland.  An  army,  notwithstanding  its  late  re 
verses,  still  formidable  in  numbers  and  once  more  thoroughly 
reorganized  marched  leisurely  from  the  vicinity  of  Washing 
ton  to  locate  and  destroy  him.  When,  where  or  how  the 

1  Carpenter's  Six  Months  at  the  White  House,  pp.  21-22. 

2  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  214. 


i84     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

battle-cloud  would  break  was  uncertain.  All  eyes  were  turned 
on  McClellan,  again  in  command  of  the  Union  forces  and 
strengthened  by  every  soldier  that  could  be  spared  from  the 
defences  of  the  Federal  capital.  It  was  in  this  state  of  sus 
pense,  and  on  the  very  day,  September  13,  that  Lee's  victorious 
legions  entered  Frederick  City  that  the  President  gave  audi 
ence  to  a  deputation  from  the  religious  denominations  of 
Chicago,  presenting  a  memorial  for  the  immediate  issue  of  an 
emancipation  proclamation,  which  was  enforced  by  some  re 
marks  from  the  chairman.  The  President  replied  that  he  had 
for  weeks  past,  even  for  months,  thought  much  upon  the 
subject  of  their  memorial. 

"  I  am  approached,"  said  he,  "  with  the  most  opposite 
opinions  anci  advice,  and  that  by  religious  men,  who  are 
equally  certain  that  they  represent  the  Divine  will.  I  am 
sure  that  either  the  one  or  the  other  class  is  mistaken  in  that 
belief,  and  perhaps,  in  some  respect,  both.  I  hope  it  will  not 
be  irreverent  for  me  to  say  that  if  it  is  probable  that  God 
would  reveal  His  will  to  others,  on  a  point  so  connected  with 
any  duty,  it  might  be  supposed  He  would  reveal  it  directly  to 
me;  for,  unless  I  am  more  deceived  in  myself  than  I  often  am, 
it  is  my  earnest  desire  to  know  the  will  of  Providence  in  this 
matter.  And  if  I  can  learn  what  it  is  I  will  do  it!  These 
are  not,  however,  the  days  of  miracles,  and  I  suppose  it  will 
be  granted  that  I  am  not  to  expect  a  direct  revelation.  I  must 
study  the  plain  physical  facts  of  the  case,  ascertain  what  is 
possible,  and  learn  what  appears  to  be  wise  and  right/' 

The  difficulties  of  the  subject  and  the  impossibility  of  even 
anti-slavery  men,  in  or  out  of  Congress,  agreeing  upon  any 
measure  of  emancipation  were  then  referred  to.  However,  he 
would  discuss  the  merits  of  the  case  and  asked  pointedly : 

"  What  good  would  a  proclamation  of  emancipation  from 
me  do,  especially  as  we  are  now  situated  ?  I  do  not  want  to 
issue  a  document  that  the  whole  world  will  see  must  neces- 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  185 

sarily  be  inoperative.  .  .  .  Would  my  word  free  the 
slaves,  when  I  cannot  even  enforce  the  Constitution  in  the 
rebel  States  ?  Is  there  a  single  court,  or  magistrate,  or  indi 
vidual  that  would  be  influenced  by  it  there  ?  " 

He  admitted  to  his  visitors,  however,  that  he  raised  no 
objections  to  such  a  proclamation  as  they  desired  on  legal  or 
on  constitutional  grounds;  for,  continued  he,  "  as  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  in  time  of  war  I  suppose  I 
have  a  right  to  take  any  measure  which  may  best  subdue  the 
enemy,  nor  do  I  urge  objections  of  a  moral  nature,  in  view  of 
possible  consequences  of  insurrection  and  massacre  at  the 
South.  I  view  this  matter  as  a  practical  war  measure,  to  be 
decided  on  according  to  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  it 
may  offer  to  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion." 

The  committee  replied,  and  the  President  added,  "  I  admit 
that  slavery  is  at  the  root  of  the  rebellion.  .  .  .  I  will 
also  concede  that  emancipation  would  help  us  in  Europe,  and 
convince  them  that  we  are  incited  by  something  more  than 
ambition.  I  grant,  further,  that  it  would  help  somewhat  at 
the  North,  though  not  so  much,  I  fear,  as  you  and  those  you 
represent  imagine.  .  .  .  Unquestionably,  it  would  weaken  the 
rebels  by  drawing  off  their  laborers,  which  is  of  great  import 
ance;  but  I  am  not  so  sure  we  could  do  much  with  the  blacks."1 
The  President,  too,  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  border 
slave  States  had  50,000  bayonets  in  the  Union  army.  It 
would  be  a  serious  matter  if  in  consequence  of  such  a  procla 
mation  they  should  go  over  to  the  South.  In  conclusion  he 
said  that  he  had  not  decided  against  a  proclamation  of  liberty 
to  the  slaves,  but  held  the  matter  under  advisement  and  assured 
them  that  the  subject  was  on  his  mind  by  day  and  by  night 
more  than  any  other. 

It  was  currently  reported  among  anti-slavery  men  in 
Illinois  that  the  emancipation  proclamation  was  extorted  from 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  231-232. 


1 86    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  President  by  the  pressure  of  such  delegations  as  this  from 
the  Christian  Convention.1  To  determine  how  little  founda 
tion  there  is  for  this  opinion  it  is  only  necessary  to  recall  what 
had  occurred  in  the  Cabinet  on  July  22  preceding. 

The  repulse  of  Lee's  veterans  at  Antietam,  September  17, 
1862,  raised  somewhat  the  hopes  of  the  President.  On  the 
1 9th  General  McClellan  telegraphed  an  account  of  his  victory, 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  three  days  later  announced  his  intention  to 
issue  the  postponed  proclamation. 

All  the  Cabinet  members,  having  been  summoned  by  mes 
senger  from  the  State  Department,  were  in  attendance  at  the 
White  House  on  September  22,  1862.  After  some  talk  of  a 
general  nature,  and  the  reading  by  Mr.  Lincoln  of  a  humorous 
chapter  from  a  book  by  Artemus  Ward,  the  conversation  as 
sumed  a  more  serious  tone.  What  subsequently  transpired  on 
that  eventful  occasion  we  learn  from  the  following  record  in 
the  diary  of  Secretary  Chase : 

"  Gentlemen,  [said  the  President]  I  have,  as  you  are  aware,  thought  a 
great  deal  about  the  relation  of  this  war  to  slavery,  and  you  all  remember 
that,  several  weeks  ago,  I  read  to  you  an  order  I  had  prepared  upon  the 
subject,  which,  on  account  of  objections  made  by  some  of  you,  was  not 
issued.  Ever  since  then  my  mind  has  been  much  occupied  with  this  sub 
ject,  and  I  have  thought  all  along  that  the  time  for  acting  on  it  might 
probably  come.  I  think  the  time  has  come  now.  I  wish  it  was  a 
better  time.  I  wish  that  we  were  in  a  better  condition.  The  action  of 
the  army  against  the  rebels  has  not  been  quite  what  I  should  have 
best  liked.  But  they  have  been  driven  out  of  Maryland,  and  Penn 
sylvania  is  no  longer  in  danger  of  invasion.  When  the  rebel  army  was 
at  Frederick  I  determined,  as  soon  as  it  should  be  driven  out  of  Mary 
land,  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation,  such  as  I  thought  most 
likely  to  be  useful.  I  said  nothing  to  any  one,  but  I  made  a  promise  to 
myself  and  [hesitating  a  little]  to  my  Maker.  The  rebel  army  is  now 
driven  out,  and  I  am  going  to  fulfill  that  promise.  I  have  got  you 
together  to  hear  what  I  have  written  down.  I  do  not  wish  your  advice 
about  the  main  matter,  for  that  I  have  determined  for  myself.  This 
I  say  without  intending  anything  but  respect  for  any  one  of  you.  But 
I  already  know  the  views  of  each  on  this  question.  They  have  been 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  233. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  187 

heretofore  expressed,  and  I  have  considered  them  as  thoroughly  and 
as  carefully  as  I  can.  What  I  have  written  is  that  which  my  reflec 
tions  have  determined  me  to  say.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  expres 
sions  I  use  or  in  any  minor  matter  which  any  one  of  you  thinks  had 
best  be  changed,  I  shall  be  glad  to  receive  your  suggestions.  One  other 
observation  I  will  make.  I  know  very  well  that  many  others  might, 
in  this  matter  as  in  others,  do  better  than  I  can;  and  if  I  was  sat 
isfied  that  the  public  confidence  was  more  fully  possessed  by  any  one 
of  them  than  by  me,  and  knew  of  any  constitutional  way  in  which  he 
could  be  put  in  my  place,  he  should  have  it.  I  would  gladly  yield 
it  to  him.  But  though  I  believe  that  I  have  not  so  much  of  the 
confidence  of  the  people  as  I  had  some  time  since,  I  do  not  know 
that,  all  things  considered,  any  other  person  has  more;  and,  however 
this  may  be,  there  is  no  way  in  which  I  can  have  any  other  man  put 
where  I  am.  I  am  here.  I  must  do  the  best  I  can,  and  bear  the 
responsibility  of  taking  the  course  which  I  feel  I  ought  to  take." 

The  President  then  proceeded  to  read  his  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
making  remarks  on  the  several  parts  as  he  went  on,  and  showing  that 
he  had  fully  considered  the  subject  in  all  the  lights  under  which  it  had 
been  presented  to  him. 

After  he  had  closed,  Governor  Seward  said :  "  The  general  question 
having  been  decided,  nothing  can  be  said  further  about  that.  Would 
it  not,  however,  make  the  proclamation  more  clear  and  decided  to 
leave  out  all  reference  to  the  act  being  sustained  during  the  incum 
bency  of  the  present  President;  and  not  merely  say  that  the  Govern 
ment  recognises,  but  that  it  will  maintain  the  freedom  it  proclaims  ?  " 

I  followed,  saying :  "  What  you  have  said,  Mr.  President,  fully  sat 
isfies  me  that  you  have  given  to  every  proposition  which  has  been  made 
a  kind  and  candid  consideration.  And  you  have  now  expressed  the 
conclusion  to  which  you  have  arrived  clearly  and  distinctly.  This  it 
was  your  right,  and,  under  your  oath  of  office,  your  duty  to  do.  The 
proclamation  does  not,  indeed,  mark  out  the  course  I  would  myself 
prefer;  but  I  am  ready  to  take  it  just  as  it  is  written  and  to  stand  by 
it  with  all  my  heart.  I  think,  however,  the  suggestions  of  Governor 
Seward  very  judicious,  and  shall  be  glad  to  have  them  adopted." 

The  President  then  asked  us  severally  our  opinions  as  to  the  modifi 
cations  proposed,  saying  that  he  did  not  care  much  about  the  phrases 
he  had  used.  Every  one  favored  the  modification,  and  it  was  adopted. 
Governor  Seward  then  proposed  that  in  the  passage  relating  to  coloni 
zation  some  language  should  be  introduced  to  show  that  the  colo 
nization  proposed  was  to  be  only  with  the  consent  of  the  colonists,  and 
the  consent  of  the  states  in  which  the  colonies  might  be  attempted. 
This,  too,  was  agreed  to,  and  no  other  modification  was  proposed. 
Mr.  Blair  then  said  that  the  question  having  been  decided,  he  would 


1 88    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

make  no  objection  to  issuing  the  proclamation;  but  he  would  ask 
to  have  his  paper,  presented  some  days  since,  against  the  policy,  filed 
with  the  proclamation.  The  President  consented  to  this  readily.  And 
then  Mr.  Blair  went  on  to  say  that  he  was  afraid  of  the  influence  of 
the  proclamation  on  the  border  States  and  on  the  army,  and  stated, 
at  some  length,  the  grounds  of  his  apprehensions.  He  disclaimed  most 
expressly,  however,  all  objections  to  emancipation  per  se,  saying  he  had 
always  been  personally  in  favor  of  it  —  always  ready  for  immediate 
emancipation  in  the  midst  of  slave  States,  rather  than  submit  to  the 
perpetuation  of  the  system.1 

The  foregoing  account  from  the  diary  of  Secretary  Chase 
is  fully  corroborated  by  a  narrative  of  Mr.  Welles  describing 
the  same  event.2  Mr.  Blair,  as  already  observed,  believed 
the  time  inopportune  for  issuing  the  proclamation  and  feared 
as  a  result  that  the  border  States  would  go  over  to  secession. 
The  President,  however,  thought  the  difficulty  not  to  act  as 
great  as  to  act.  There  were  two  sides,  he  said,  to  that 
question.  For  months  he  had  labored  to  get  those  States  to 
move  in  this  matter,  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  it  was 
their  true  interest  to  do  so,  but  his  labors  were  vain.  "  We 
must  take  the  forward  movement,"  he  declared.  "  They  would 
acquiesce,  if  not  immediately,  soon;  for  they  must  be  satisfied 
that  slavery  had  received  its  death-blow  from  slave-owners  — 
it  could  not  survive  the  rebellion."3 

When  the  Cabinet  had  concluded  its  deliberations  the  docu 
ment  was  duly  attested,  the  seal  affixed  and  the  President's 
signature  added.  On  the  following  morning,  September  23, 
1862,  the  proclamation  was  published  in  full  by  all  the  leading 
newspapers  of  the  loyal  States,  where  it  excited  the  most 
profound  surprise.  Indicating,  as  it  does,  the  progress  of 
opinion,  it  was  the  first  great  landmark  of  the  war;  behind  it 
lay  the  old,  before  it  the  new  order  of  things.  The  successive 
steps  by  which  Mr.  Lincoln  reached  this  position  have  been 

1  Quoted  in  Schuckers'  Life  of  Chase,  pp.  453-455. 
'The  Galaxy,  December,  1872,  pp.  846-847. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  847. 


ANTI-SLAVERY  LEGISLATION  189 

sketched  in  the  present  chapter  with  fullness  and,  it  is  be 
lieved,  with  accuracy.  It  has  been  shown  how  fugitive  slaves 
escaping  to  the  Federal  lines  were  at  first  surrendered  to  their 
masters;  how  soon  afterward,  as  in  the  case  of  General  But 
ler's  command,  they  were  protected  by  the  army  and  employed 
as  laborers;  how  in  a  later  stage,  certain  Union  commanders 
who  proposed  to  confiscate  slave  property  or  to  arm  negroes 
as  soldiers  were  gently  rebuked  and  their  acts  disavowed 
by  the  President.  This  forbearance,  however,  was  without 
effect  on  the  Southern  people,  whose  hatred  was  quite  as  likely 
to  ascribe  it  to  Yankee  cowardice  as  to  Yankee  magnanimity. 
With  this  account  of  the  introduction  into  the  problem  of 
reconstruction  of  a  novel  and  very  perplexing  element  we  are 
prepared  to  examine  the  various  theories  of  State  status  held 
by  those  whose  position  and  ability  made  them  leaders  of  public 
opinion.  That  subject  will  be  more  properly  discussed  in  a 
separate  chapter. 


VI 


THEORIES   AND    PLANS   OF  RECONSTRUC 
TION 

IN  considering  the  different  plans  of  reconstruction  it  is 
not  deemed  necessary  to  discuss  further  than  has  been 
done  in  the  preceding  pages  the  President's  theory  of 
State  status.  There,  in  his  effort  to  establish  loyal  gov 
ernments  in  three  of  the  rebellious  States,  as  well  as  in  the 
protection  and  encouragement  extended  to  reorganized  Vir 
ginia,  we  have  seen  practical  applications  of  that  theory.  In 
his  first  inaugural  Mr.  Lincoln  said :  "  It  is  safe  to  assert  that 
no  government  proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law 
for  its  own  termination/*  and  on  the  same  occasion  he  added, 
"  No  State,  upon  its  own  mere  motion,  can  lawfully  get  out  of 
the  Union;  that  resolves  and  ordinances  to  that  effect  are 
legally  void."  1  From  the  principles  of  March  4,  1861,  was 
logically  deduced  the  central  idea  of  the  plan  announced  in  De 
cember,  1863,  and  maintained  by  the  President  till  the  last 
hour  of  his  life.  In  his  first  message  to  Congress,  submitted  at 
the  special  session  beginning  July  4,  1861,  he  again  attempted 
to  remove  the  fears  of  those  whose  prejudice  ascribed  to  the 
dominant  political  party  a  purpose  to  interfere  in  the  domestic 
concerns  of  the  slaveholding  States.  As  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  quotation  he  little  more  than  reiterated  on  that  occa 
sion  what  he  had  solemnly  declared  four  months  earlier : 

Lest  there  be  some  uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  candid  men  as  to 
what  is  to  be  the  course  of  the  Government  towards  the  Southern 
States  after  the  rebellion  shall  have  been  suppressed,  the  Executive 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  106. 

190 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  191 

deems  it  proper  to  say,  it  will  be  his  purpose  then,  as  ever,  to  be  guided 
by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws ;  and  that  he  probably  will  have  no 
different  understanding  of  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  relatively  to  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  people,  under  the 
Constitution,  than  that  expressed  in  the  inaugural  address. 

He  desires  to  preserve  the  Government,  that  it  may  be  administered 
for  all,  as  it  was  administered  by  the  men  who  made  it.  Loyal  citizens 
everywhere  have  the  right  to  claim  this  o£  their  Government,  and  the 
Government  has  no  right  to  withhold  or  neglect  it.  It  is  not  per 
ceived  that,  in  giving  it,  there  is  any  coercion,  any  conquest,  or  any 
subjugation,  in  any  just  sense  of  those  terms.1 

The  first  paragraph  quoted  expresses  his  perfect  confidence 
in  a  successful  conclusion  of  the  war,  and  in  this  respect  sug 
gests  the  faith  of  Charles  Sumner,  in  whose  private  corre 
spondence  the  same  thought  constantly  occurs.  In  his  mes 
sage  the  President  observed  also  that  Virginia  had  allowed 
"  this  giant  insurrection  to  make  its  nest  within  her  borders; 
and  this  Government  has  no  choice  left  but  to  deal  with  it 
where  it  finds  it.  And  it  has  the  less  regret,  as  the  loyal 
citizens  have,  in  due  form,  claimed  its  protection.  Those 
loyal  citizens  this  Government  is  bound  to  recognize,  and 
protect,  as  being  Virginia."2 

As  early  as  June,  1861,  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  application  of 
Governor  Pierpont,  recognized  the  restored  State  of  Virginia 
by  promising  assistance  to  repel  invasion  and  to  suppress 
domestic  violence;  his  example  was  followed  by  both  Houses 
of  Congress :  first,  in  the  prompt  admission  of  Senators  and 
Representatives  from  that  Commonwealth,  and  long  after 
ward,  when  there  was  ample  time  for  reflection,  by  consenting 
to  admit  the  new  State  of  West  Virginia,  to  whose  separate 
and  independent  existence  the  reorganized  Legislature  had 
formally  assented.  The  recognition  of  Pierpont's  government, 
however,  involved  on  the  constitutional  question  little  differ 
ence  of  opinion  between  the  President  and  Congress.  Thus  far 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  129. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  125. 


192    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  political  departments,  if  not  in  complete  harmony,  were 
at  any  rate  not  in  conflict.  This  act,  though  it  marked  no 
distinct  Executive  policy,  was  the  occasion  of  some  discordant 
notes  which  will  be  referred  to  in  their  proper  relation. 

It  may  not  be  unnecessary  to  observe  that  underlying  the 
early  policy  of  the  President  was  a  conviction  that  the  rebel 
lion  was  effected  by  a  small  but  treasonable  faction;  indeed, 
in  the  message  of  July  4  he  expressed  his  belief  that,  with 
the  probable  exception  of  South  Carolina,  the  disloyal  were  in 
a  minority  in  all  the  seceding  States.  The  great  mass  of 
Southern  people,  it  was  assumed,  opposed  disunion,  and  with 
Federal  assistance  would  soon  right  themselves.  Peaceful 
citizens  of  that  section,  being  regarded  as  still  under  protec 
tion  of  the  Constitution,  were,  therefore,  not  to  be  molested. 
The  conflict  waged  by  the  General  Government  was  a  per 
sonal  war  against  insurgents.  Leaders  who  encouraged  se 
dition  and  committed  acts  of  hostility  against  the  United 
States  could  be  tried  precisely  as  in  a  consolidated  state  like 
Great  Britain,  and  upon  conviction  punished  for  their  treason. 
This  attitude  was  not  only  wise,  but  had  the  additional  merit 
of  greatly  simplifying  the  method  of  restoration.  It  asserted 
further  that  the  rebellious  States  were  still  in  the  Union, 
and  under  the  existing  compact  could  not  lawfully  withdraw 
from  it;  being  in  the  Union,  they  were  entitled  to  all  the 
rights  accorded  to  other  members  of  the  confederation.  In 
brief,  its  essential  idea  was  the  indestructibility  of  a  State, 
and  it  denied  that  the  integrity  of  the  national  domain  had 
been  impaired  or  the  number  of  States  diminished  by  the 
ordinances  of  secession.  The  General  Government  could 
properly  aid  the  people  of  a  State  to  express  their  will,  but, 
beyond  what  was  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of  the  war, 
could  not  legally  exercise  those  powers  constitutionally  re 
served  to  the  States.  By  the  treasonable  act  of  levying  war 
against  the  Republic  the  rights  and  franchises  incident  to 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  193 

United  States  citizenship  were  forfeited.  The  power  of  Con 
gress  extended  no  further  than  to  a  guaranty  of  preexisting 
republican  forms  of  government. 

To  the  correctness  of  these  principles  Democrats  and  Re 
publicans  alike  gave  almost  universal  assent.  But  the  war 
was  increasing  in  magnitude,  and  the  measures  adequate  to 
the  suppression  of  a  gigantic  rebellion  proved  to  be  very 
different  from  those  adapted  to  a  local  insurrection.  The 
President's  original  intention  was  to  overcome  armed  resist 
ance  to  Federal  power  and  as  speedily  as  possible  restore  the 
States  to  their  former  relations.  This  task,  however,  was 
more  easily  conceived  than  accomplished,  and  in  the  terrible 
conflict  that  ensued  political  parties  as  well  as  individual 
statesmen  were  swept  onward  from  point  to  point  to  very 
different  resting-places.  From  this  condition  resulted  the 
great  number  of  theories  of  reconstruction  presented  before 
the  end  of  the  rebellion. 

The  President  early  in  the  war  adopted  principles  that 
found  little  favor  with  conservative  Democrats.  His  readi 
ness  to  recognize  the  restored  State  of  Virginia  was  equiva 
lent  to  a  declaration  that  if  a  majority  of  the  people  in  one  of 
the  seceded  States  voluntarily  transferred  their  obedience  and 
support  to  a  hostile  power  the  loyal  minority  constituted  the 
State  and  should  govern  it.  In  this  connection  will  be  re 
membered  the  objections  of  Bayard  and  Saulsbury  to  receiv 
ing  Senators  Willey  and  Carlile  from  the  reorganized  gov 
ernment  of  Virginia.  A  further  advance  is  indicated  by 
Mr.  Lincoln's  appointment,  early  in  1862,  of  military  govern 
ors  for  those  States  that  had  been  brought  partly  within 
Federal  military  lines.  After  the  proclamation  of  September 
22,  1862,  and  that  of  January  i  succeeding,  the  question  of 
restoration  was  left  permanently  out  of  view.  If  the  erring 
States  were  ever  to  resume  their  places  they  must  first  recog 
nize  the  anti-slavery  legislation  summarized  in  the  preceding 


i94    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

chapter.  Hitherto  the  paramount  consideration  with  the 
President  was  a  speedy  restoration  of  former  relations; 
thenceforth  "  the  Union  as  it  was  "  became  impossible,  be 
cause  slaves  liberated  in  the  progress  of  the  war  could  never 
be  returned  to  a  condition  of  servitude.  The  introduction  of 
this  element  greatly  increased  the  difficulties  of  a  problem 
already  sufficiently  intricate.  But  neither  this  nor  any  other 
consequence  of  his  proclamation  appears  to  have  been  over 
looked  by  the  Executive. 

The  message  of  December  8,  1863,  together  with  the  ac 
companying  proclamation  sketched  in  outline  the  only  plan 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  published  on  the  subject  of  recon 
struction,  and  even  to  this  mode  of  reinstatement  he  did  not 
require  exact  conformity,  recognizing  that  its  modification 
might  be  demanded  by  inherent  differences  in  situation  among 
the  returning  States.  By  its  terms  all  persons  who  partici 
pated  in  the  rebellion,  except  certain  described  classes,  were 
promised  amnesty  with  restoration  of  property  (excluding 
slaves  and  those  cases  of  property  in  which  rights  of  third 
parties  intervened)  upon  taking  an  oath  which  pledged  sup 
port  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union;  of  the  slavery  legis 
lation  enacted  during  the  war  (unless  such  acts  were  repealed 
by  Congress,  or  were  modified  or  annulled  by  the  Supreme 
Court),  and  adherence  to  all  Executive  proclamations  on 
that  subject  so  long  and  so  far  as  not  modified  or  declared 
void  by  the  Judiciary.  Whenever  in  any  of  the  rebellious 
States  a  number  of  persons  equal  to  one  tenth  of  the  voters 
participating  in  the  Presidential  election  of  1860,  who  were 
qualified  electors  under  the  laws  existing  immediately  before 
the  ordinance  of  secession,  should  reestablish  a  State  govern 
ment  republican  in  form,  and  not  contravening  this  oath, 
it  would  be  recognized  as  the  true  government  of  that  State 
and  should  receive  the  benefits  of  the  constitutional  guaranty. 
To  the  emancipated  race  renewed  assurance  of  permanent 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  195 

freedom  was  given.  It  was  also  suggested  that  in  reorganiza 
tion  the  political  framework  of  the  States  be  maintained. 
The  admission  of  members  elected  to  Congress  was  a  matter 
for  the  determination  of  its  respective  Houses. 

It  is  proper  to  notice  in  this  method  of  reorganization, 
known  afterward  as  "  the  Louisiana  Plan,"  the  absence  of 
any  provision  for  conferring  on  the  freedmen  the  elective 
franchise.  In  a  private  letter  to  Governor  Hahn  the  Presi 
dent  had,  it  is  true,  expressed  his  personal  preference  for 
including  among  the  electors  such  of  the  colored  race  as  had 
fought  gallantly  in  the  Union  ranks  and  also  the  very  intelli 
gent  among  them.1  This,  however,  was  only  an  unofficial 
suggestion.  Nor  were  securities  of  any  sort  required  for  the 
future  as  a  condition  of  reinstatement. 

Under  this  plan,  which  was  presented  as  only  a  rallying 
point,  Union  governments  had  been  inaugurated  in  Tennessee, 
Louisiana  and  Arkansas;  the  first  two  participated  in  the 
Presidential  election  of  1864,  and  before  the  close  of  the  war 
they  had  all  elected  members  to  Congress.  The  legality  of 
these  governments  Mr.  Lincoln  always  maintained.  How 
Congress  regarded  them  will  be  related  in  succeeding  chapters. 

Long  before  the  announcement  of  any  mode  of  reorganiza 
tion  by  the  Executive,  members  of  the  Legislative  branch  of 
Government  had  made  some  efforts  in  this  field;  these,  how 
ever,  were  for  the  most  part  tentative  and  hesitant.  The 
question  had  not  yet  been  brought  fairly  before  Congress; 
indeed,  it  was  in  discussing  the  results  and  tendencies  of 
Presidential  reconstruction  that  the  Congressional  plan,  des 
tined  ultimately  to  prevail,  slowly  assumed  definitive  form. 

As  early  as  December,  1861,  Mr.  Harlan,  of  Iowa,  intro 
duced  into  the  Senate  a  bill  for  the  establishment  of  pro 
visional  governments  for  the  territory  embraced  by  the  States 
of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkan- 

1  See  p.  73, ante. 


196    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

sas  and  Tennessee.     It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Territories,  but  was  never  reported. 

More  important,  however,  than  this  proposed  enactment, 
both  because  of  the  acknowledged  position  of  their  author 
and  the  influence  which  they  exerted  upon  the  mode  of  re 
construction  finally  adopted,  were  the  nine  resolutions  offered, 
February  n,  1862,  by  Charles  Sumner.  These  were  "de 
claratory  of  the  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the 
territory  once  occupied  by  certain  States,  and  now  usurped 
by  pretended  governments,  without  constitutional  or  legal 
right."  A  preamble  in  the  characteristic  style  of  this  cele 
brated  statesman  introduced  his  famous  propositions,  which 
were  as  follows : 

Whereas  certain,  States,  rightfully  belonging  to  the  Union  of  the 
United  States,  have  through  their  respective  governments  wickedly 
undertaken  to  abjure  all  those  duties  by  which  their  connection  with  the 
Union  was  maintained ;  to  renounce  all  allegiance  to  the  Constitution ; 
to  levy  war  upon  the  national  Government;  and,  for  the  consummation 
of  this  treason,  have  unconstitutionally  and  unlawfully  confederated 
together,  with  the  declared  purpose  of  putting  an  end  by  force  to  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  within  their  respective  limits ;  and 
whereas  this  condition  of  insurrection,  organized  by  pretended  govern 
ments,  openly  exists  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and  Virginia,  except 
in  Eastern  Tennessee  and  Western  Virginia,  and  has  been  declared  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  a  proclamation  duly  made  in 
conformity  with  an  act  of  Congress,  to  exist  throughout  this  territory, 
with  the  exceptions  already  named;  and  whereas  the  extensive  territory 
thus  usurped  by  these  pretended  governments  and  organized  into  a 
hostile  confederation,  belongs  to  the  United  States,  as  an  inseparable 
part  thereof,  under  the  sanctions  of  the  Constitution,  to  be  held  in  trust 
for  the  inhabitants  in  the  present  and  future  generations,  and  is  so 
completely  interlinked  with  the  Union  that  it  is  forever  dependent 
thereupon;  and  whereas  the  Constitution,  which  is  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land,  cannot  be  displaced  in  its  rightful  operation  within  this 
territory,  but  must  ever  continue  the  supreme  law  thereof,  notwith 
standing  the  doings  of  any  pretended  governments  acting  singly  or  in 
confederation,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  its  supremacy :  Therefore : 

I.  Resolved,  That  any  vote  of  secession  or  other  act  by  which  any 
State  may  undertake  to  put  an  end  to  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  197 

within  its  territory  is  inoperative  and  void  against  the  Constitution, 
and  when  sustained  by  force  it  becomes  a  practical  abdication  by  the 
State  of  all  rights  under  the  Constitution,  while  the  treason  which  it 
involves  still  further  works  an  instant  forfeiture  of  all  those  functions 
and  powers  essential  to  the  continued  existence  of  the  State  as  a  body 
politic,  so  that  from  that  time  forward  the  territory  falls  under  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  Congress  as  other  territory,  and  the  State 
being,  according  to  the  language  of  the  law,  felo-de-se,  ceases  to  exist. 

2.  That  any  combination  of  men  assuming  to  act  in  the  place  of  such 
State,   attempting  to   insnare   or  coerce  the   inhabitants   thereof  into  a 
confederation  hostile  to  the  Union,  is  rebellious,  treasonable,  and  desti 
tute  of  all  moral  authority;  and  that  such  combination  is  a  usurpation 
incapable  of  any  constitutional   existence   and   utterly  lawless,   so  that 
everything  dependent  upon  it  is  without  constitutional  or  legal  support. 

3.  That   the   termination    of   a    State   under   the    Constitution   neces 
sarily  causes  the  termination  of  those  peculiar  local  institutions  which, 
having  no  origin  in  the  Constitution  or  in  those  natural  rights  which 
exist   independent    of   the    Constitution,    are   upheld   by   the    sole   and 
exclusive  authority  of  the  State. 

4.  That  slavery,  being  a  peculiar  local  institution,  derived  from  local 
laws,  without  any  origin  in  the   Constitution  or  in  natural   rights,  is 
upheld  by   the   sole   and   exclusive   authority   of  the   State,   and   must 
therefore    cease    to    exist    legally    or    constitutionally    when    the    State 
on  which  it  depends  no  longer  exists;  for  the  incident  cannot  survive 
the  principal. 

5.  That  in  the  exercise  of  its  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  territory 
once  occupied  by  the  States,  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  see  that  the 
supremacy  of  the  Constitution  is  maintained  in  its  essential  principles, 
so  that   everywhere   in  this  extensive  territory  slavery   shall   cease '  to 
exist  practically,  as  it  has  already  ceased  to  exist  constitutionally  or 
legally. 

6.  That  any  recognition  of  slavery  in  such  territory,  or  any  surrender 
of  slaves  under  the  pretended  laws  of  the  extinct  States  by  any  officer 
of  the   United    States,   civil   or   military,    is   a   recognition   of  the  pre 
tended  governments,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress 
under  the  Constitution,  and  is  in  the  nature  of  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
rebellion  that  has  been  organized. 

7.  That  any   such   recognition  of  slavery  or   surrender  of  pretended 
slaves,  besides  being  a  recognition  of  the  pretended  governments,  giving 
them  aid  and  comfort,  is  a  denial  of  the  rights  of  persons  who,  by  the 
extinction  of  the  States,  have  become  free,  so  that,  under  the  Constitution, 
they  cannot  again  be  enslaved. 

8.  That  allegiance  from  the  inhabitant  and  protection  from  the  Gov 
ernment    are    corresponding    obligations,    dependent    upon    each    other, 


198    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

so  that  while  the  allegiance  of  every  inhabitant  of  this  territory,  without 
distinction  of  color  or  class,  is  due  to  the  United  States,  and  cannot 
in  any  way  be  defeated  by  the  action  of  any  pretended  Government,  or 
by  any  pretence  of  property  or  claim  to  service,  the  corresponding 
obligation  of  protection  is  at  the  same  time  due  by  the  United  States 
to  every  such  inhabitant,  without  distinction  of  color  or  class;  and  it 
follows  that  inhabitants  held  as  slaves,  whose  paramount  allegiance 
is  due  to  the  United  States,  may  justly  look  to  the  national  Government 
for  protection. 

9.  That  the  duty  directly  cast  upon  Congress  by  the  extinction  of  the 
States  is  reinforced  by  the  positive  prohibition  of  the  Constitution  that 
"  no  State  shall  enter  into  any  Confederation,"  or  "  without  the  consent 
of  Congress  keep  troops  or  ships-of-war  in  time  of  peace,  or  enter 
into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  State,"  or  "  grant  letters 
of  marque  and  reprisal,"  or  "  coin  money,"  or  "  emit  bills  ot  credit," 
or  "without  the  consent  of  Congress  lay  any  duties  on  imports  or 
exports,"  all  of  which  have  been  done  by  these  pretended  Govern 
ments,  and  also  by  the  positive  injunction  of  the  Constitution,  addressed 
to  the  nation,  that  "the  United  States  shall  guaranty  to  every  State 
in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,"  and  that  in  pursuance  of 
this  duty  cast  upon  Congress,  and  further  enjoined  by  the  Constitution, 
Congress  will  assume  complete  jurisdiction  of  such  vacated  territory 
where  such  unconstitutional  and  illegal  things  have  been  attempted, 
and  will  proceed  to  establish  therein  republican  forms  of  government 
under  the  Constitution;  and  in  the  execution  of  this  trust  will  provide 
carefully  for  the  protection  of  all  the  inhabitants  thereof;  for  the 
security  of  families,  the  organization  of  labor,  the  encouragement  of 
industry,  and  the  welfare  of  society,  and  will  in  every  way  discharge  the 
duties  of  a  just,  merciful  and  paternal  Government.1 

Sumner,  as  already  noticed,  having  confidence  in  the  ulti 
mate  triumph  of  the  national  cause,  began  early  in  the 
war  to  reflect  on  the  subject  of  reorganization.  As  might 
have  been  expected  from  his  previous  career,  his  opinion 
of  the  changes  that  would  result  from  rebellion  inclined 
him  at  the  outset  to  adopt  the  views  of  the  less  extreme  anti- 
slavery  men.  Notwithstanding  this  fact,  however,  his  scheme 
of  reconstruction,  because  of  its  radical  and  comprehensive 
character,  caused  something  of  a  sensation  when  introduced 
in  the  Senate,  and  disturbed  the  repose  of  many  conservative 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist,  pp.  322-323. 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  199 

patriots  outside.  By  leading  Republicans  it  was  promptly 
disavowed  as  the  policy  of  their  party.  These  resolutions, 
though  never  adopted  or  even  formally  discussed  by  Congress, 
colored  somewhat  the  final  work  of  reconstruction.  An  ac 
count  of  the  extent  and  the  manner  in  which  they  influenced 
the  legislative  plan  belongs  properly  to  a  consideration  of  the 
acts  of  March,  1867.  What  appeared  to  be  a  public  neces 
sity  had  by  that  time  brought  many  members  of  his  party 
fully  abreast  of  Mr.  Sumner. 

The  interval  had  been  employed  in  various  ways  to  keep 
his  peculiar  theory  before  the  public.  A  private  letter  to 
Francis  Lieber,  dated  March  29,  1862,  shows  that  Sumner  s 
view  of  the  measures  essential  to  restoration  had  not  been 
modified  by  the  discussions  of  a  month.  "Assuming,"  he  says, 
"  that  our  military  success  is  complete,  and  that  the  rebel 
armies  are  scattered,  what  next?  Unless  I  am  mistaken,  the 
most  difficult  thing  of  all,  —  namely,  the  reorganization.  How 
shall  it  be  done,  —  by  what  process  ?  What  power  shall  set 
a-going  the  old  governments?  Will  the  people  cooperate 
enough  to  constitute  self-government  ?  I  have  positive  opin 
ions  here.  If  successful  in  war,>  we  shall  have  then  before  us 
the  alternative:  (i)  Separation;  or  (2)  subjugation  of  these 
States  with  emancipation.  I  do  not  see  any  escape.  Diplo 
matists  here  and  abroad  think  it  will  be  separation.  I  think 
the  latter,  under  my  resolutions  or  something  like."  * 

By  a  distinguished  Confederate  officer  Sumner  has  been 
described  as  a  statesman  who  seemed  over-educated,  and  who 
had  retained  without  having  digested  his  learning;  2  by  an  ad 
mirer  of  his  own  party  as  wanting  in  tact  and  practical  wisdom 
as  a  legislator. 3  Though  it  must  be  admitted  that  a  grain  of 
truth  forms  the  basis  of  these  criticisms,  yet  the  letter  to  his 

1  Memoir  of  Charles  Sumner  by  E.  L.  Pierce,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  74-75. 
1  General  Richard  Taylor  in  Destruction  and  Reconstruction,  p.  245. 
'Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II.  p.  114. 


200    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

friend  Dr.  Lieber  shows  no  lack  of  insight  into  the  events  and 
tendencies  of  the  times.  Without  anticipating  a  subsequent 
portion  of  this  narrative  it  may  be  observed  here  that  if  his 
vision  did  not  pierce  the  remote  future,  his  knowledge  and  ex 
perience  enabled  him  to  see  as  much  of  coming  events  as  the 
most  gifted  of  his  contemporaries.  Writing  a  year  later,  July 
21,  1863,  to  Hon.  John  Bright,  one  of  our  few  friends  in  Eng 
land,  he  remarked  that  "  so  great  a  revolution  cannot  come  to  a 
close  at  once/' 1  The  defeat  of  General  Lee  at  Gettysburg  a 
few  weeks  earlier  suggested  the  thought  that  the  destruction  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  would  have  precipitated  on 
Congress  the  entire  question  of  reconstruction,  and  time  was 
an  essential  element  in  the  development  of  Sumner's  most 
cherished  plans. 

Not  only  in  his  private  correspondence  and  in  the  discussion 
of  every  conceivable  measure  before  Congress  did  he  en 
deavor  to  enforce  his  theory  of  State  status,  but  he  also  pub 
lished  in  a  leading  periodical  an  elaboration  and  defence  of  his 
opinions.  For  many  reasons  the  undelivered  speech  forming 
the  basis  of  his  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  October, 
1863,  is  of  remarkable  interest.  It  reveals  the  mental  habits 
of  one  of  the  most  useful  and  influential  characters  then  in 
public  life;  the  statesman  is  really  thinking  aloud.  He  ap 
pears,  for  instance,  to  have  been  much  impressed  by  the  fact 
that,  under  the  Commonwealth,  Cromwell  partitioned  his 
country  into  military  districts  of  which  Sumner  remarked  that 
there  were  precisely  eleven,  just  the  number  of  States  in 
rebellion.  One  view  is  enforced  by  an  appropriate  passage 
from  Cicero,  while  of  Edmund  Burke  it  is  asserted  that  had 
he  lived  during  the  Civil  War  his  eloquence  would  have 
blasted  Southern  leaders  for  their  folly  and  madness  in  en 
tering  upon  a  career  of  rebellion.  All  who  are  familiar  with 
the  debates  of  that  period  must  have  observed  that  Sumner 
1  Memoir  of  Sumner  by  E.  L.  Pierce,  Vol.  IV.  p.  143. 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  201 

was  considerably  influenced  by  the  authority  of  great  names, 
and  in  consequence  sometimes  exposed  himself  to  rebuke  from 
men  who,  though  in  many  respects  inferior,  had  studied  the 
questions  of  the  day  in  the  light  of  their  own  times. 

It  is  not  intended,  however,  to  trace  the  origin  of  the  doc 
trine  of  State  suicide  or  even  to  suggest  all  the  arguments 
upon  which  he  relied  for  its  support,  the  purpose  of  these  re 
marks  being  rather  to  show  on  what  principles  its  essential 
propositions  were  based.  This,  it  is  believed,  cannot  be  better 
done  than  by  explaining  the  resolutions  in  his  own  language. 

In  the  Atlantic  Monthly  he  wrote:  "  It  is  sometimes  said 
that  the  States  themselves  committed  suicide,  so  that  as  States 
they  ceased  to  exist,  leaving  their  whole  jurisdiction  open  to 
the  occupation  of  the  United  States  under  the  Constitution. 
This  assumption  is  founded  on  the  fact  that,  whatever  may 
be  the  existing  governments  in  these  States,  they  are  in  no 
respect  constitutional,  and  since  the  State  itself  is  known 
by  the  government,  with  which  its  life  is  intertwined,  it  must 
cease  to  exist  constitutionally  when  its  government  no  longer 
exists  constitutionally." 

He  acknowledges  the  difficulty  of  defining  the  entity  which 
we  call  a  State.  "  Among  us,"  says  Mr.  Sumner,  "  the  term 
is  most  known  as  the  technical  name  for  one  of  the  political 
societies  which  compose  our  Union.  .  i  ...  Nobody  has 
suggested,  I  presume,  that  any  '  State '  of  our  Union  has, 
through  rebellion,  ceased  to  exist  as  a  civil  society,  or  even 
as  a  political  community.  It  is  only  as  a  State  of  the  Union, 
armed  with  State  rights,  or  at  least  as  a  local  government, 
which  annually  renews  itself,  as  the  snake  its  skin,  that  it 
can  be  called  in  question.  But  it  is  vain  to  challenge  for  the 
technical  '  State,"  or  for  the  annual  government,  that  im 
mortality  which  belongs  to  civil  society.  The  one  is  an 
artificial  body,  the  other  is  a  natural  body;  and  while  the 
first,  overwhelmed  by  insurrection  or  war,  may  change  or 


202    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

die,  the  latter  can  change  or  die  only  with  the  extinction  of 
the  community  itself,  whatever  may  be  its  name  or  its 
form/' 

Phillimore  is  quoted  in  support  of  the  proposition  that  a 
"  State,"  even  in  a  broader  signification,  may  lose  its  life. 
That  author  says :  "A  state,  like  an  individual,  may  die," 
and,  among  the  various  ways  in  which  this  may  occur,  adds, 
"by  its  submission  and  the  donation  of  itself  to  another 
country."  "  But  in  the  case  of  our  Rebel  States,"  resumes 
Mr.  Sumner,  "  there  has  been  a  plain  submission  and  donation 
of  themselves, —  effective,  at  least,  to  break  the  continuity  of 
government,  if  not  to  destroy  that  immortality  which  has 
been  claimed.  Nor  can  it  make  any  difference,  in  breaking 
this  continuity,  that  the  submission  and  donation,  constituting 
a  species  of  attornment,  were  to  enemies  at  home  rather  than 
to  enemies  abroad, —  to  Jefferson  Davis  rather  than  to  Louis 
Napoleon.  The  thread  is  snapped  in  one  case  as  much  as  in 
the  other. 

"  But  a  change  of  form  in  the  actual  government  may  be 
equally  effective.  Cicero  speaks  of  a  change  so  complete  as 
'  to  leave  no  image  of  a  state  behind/  But  this  is  precisely 
what  has  been  done  throughout  the  whole  Rebel  region: 
there  is  no  image  of  a  constitutional  State  left  behind." 

The  first  resolution  of  the  series  quoted  declares  "  That 
any  vote  of  secession  or  other  act  by  which  any  State  may 
undertake  to  put  an  end  to  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution 
within  its  territory  is  inoperative  and  void  against  the  Con 
stitution,  and  when  sustained  by  force  it  becomes  a  practical 
abdicationby  the  State  of  all  its  rights  under  the  Constitution." 
Perhaps  Mr.  Sumner  in  the  essay  failed  to  strengthen  his 
original  statement  of  this  proposition,  which  he  believed  was 
"  upheld  by  the  historic  example  of  England,  at  the  Revolu 
tion  of  1688,  when,  on  the  flight  of  James  II.  and  the  aban 
donment  of  his  kingly  duties,  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  203 

voted  that  the  monarch,  '  having  violated  the  fundamental 
laws,  and  having  withdrawn  himself  out  of  the  kingdom,  had 
abdicated  the  government,  and  that  the  throne  had  thereby  be 
come  vacant.' '  This  precedent,  which  Senator  Sumner 
thought  applicable,  was  by  no  means  so  formidable  an  argu 
ment  against  the  rebellious  States  as  he  chose  to  regard  it.  If 
the  term  abdicate  is  equivalent  to  a  species  of  informal  resigna 
tion  it  did  not  apply  strictly  to  the  case  of  James  II.,  for  that 
unfortunate  ruler  presented  to  Englishmen  the  unusual  spec 
tacle  of  withdrawing  from  his  kingdom  under  an  escort  of 
Dutch  troops.  Doubtless  he  remembered  the  saying  of  his 
father,  who  proved  the  truth  of  the  adage  in  his  own  person, 
that  the  distance  is  short  between  the  prison  and  the  grave 
of  a  king.  The  expectation  of  recovering  his  throne  was  a 
motive  with  James  scarcely  less  powerful  than  that  of  taking 
precaution  for  his  personal  safety.  This  intention  appears 
from  the  unsuccessful  campaign  in  Ireland,  which  he  had 
selected  as  a  rallying  point.  That  monarch's  real  offence  was 
his  violation  of  the  laws  of  England.  Many  of  his  prede 
cessors,  as  well  as  some  of  his  successors,  were  as  unreason 
able  and  as  obstinate  as  he.  The  charge  of  abdication  was 
scarcely  a  decent  pretext  for  declaring  the  throne  vacant,  and 
Mr.  Sumner  appears  to  have  forgotten  for  the  moment  that 
the  Federal  Government  is  one  of  limited  while  Parliament 
is  clothed  with  absolute  powers.  In  reality  James  was  co 
erced  by  the  Prince  of  Orange  into  "  withdrawing  "  from  the 
Kingdom.  It  is  not  intended  here  to  call  in  question  the 
accepted  vindication  of  the  Revolution  of  1688,  but  merely  to 
show  that  the  Massachusetts  statesman  was  at  times  not 
above  supporting  an  argument  by  a  legal  or  an  historical 
fiction. 

The  same  resolution  continues :  "  The  treason  which  it 
[the  attempt  by  force  to  terminate  the  supremacy  of  the 
Constitution]  involves  still  further  works  an  instant  for- 


204    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

feiture  of  all  those  functions  and  powers  essential  to  the 
continued  existence  of  the  State  as  a  body  politic." 

On  the  idea  of  State  forfeiture  his  reasoning  is  entitled 
to  more  respect.  He  argues :  "  But  again  it  is  sometimes 
said  that  the  States,  by  their  flagrant  treason,  have  forfeited 
their  rights  as  States,  so  as  to  be  civilly  dead.  It  is  a  patent 
and  indisputable  fact,  that  this  gigantic  treason  was  inaugu 
rated  with  all  the  forms  of  law  known  to  the  State;  that  it 
was  carried  forward  not  only  by  individuals,  but  also  by 
States,  so  far  as  States  can  perpetrate  treason;  that  the  States 
pretended  to  withdraw  bodily  in  their  corporate  capacities;  — 
that  the  Rebellion,  as  it  showed  itself,  was  by  States  as  well 
as  in  States;  that  it  was  by  the  governments  of  States  as 
well  as  by  the  people  of  States;  and  that,  to  the  common 
observer,  the  crime  was  consummated  by  the  several  corpora  - 
tions  as  well  as  by  the  individuals  of  whom  they  were  com 
posed.  From  this  fact,  obvious  to  all,  it  is  argued  that, 
since,  according  to  Blackstone,  '  a  traitor  hath  abandoned  his 
connection  with  society,  and  hath  no  longer  any  right  to  the 
advantages  which  before  belonged  to  him  purely  as  a  member 
of  the  community/  by  the  same  principle  the  traitor  State 
is  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as  a  member  of  the  Union.  But 
it  is  not  necessary,  on  the  present  occasion,  to  insist  on  the 
application  of  any  such  principle  to  States." 

Discarding  as  not  essential  to  his  defence  the  theories  of 
State  forfeiture,  State  abdication,  or  even  State  suicide,  the 
article  adds :  "  It  is  enough,  that,  for  the  time  being,  and 
in  the  absence  of  a  loyal  government,  they  can  take  no  part 
and  perform  no  function  in  the  Union,  so  that  they  cannot  be 
recognized  by  the  National  Government.  The  reason  is  plain. 
There  are  in  these  States  no  local  functionaries  bound  by 
constitutional  oaths,  so  that,  in  fact,  there  are  no  constitu 
tional  functionaries;  and  since  the  State  government  is  neces 
sarily  composed  of  such  functionaries,  there  can  be  no  State 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  205 

government.  Thus,  for  instance,  in  South  Carolina,  Pickens 
and  his  associates  may  call  themselves  the  governor  and 
legislature;  and  in  Virginia,  Letcher  and  his  associates  may 
call  themselves  governor  and  legislature;  but  we  cannot  recog 
nize  them  as  such.  Therefore  to  all  pretensions  in  behalf  of 
State  governments  in  the  Rebel  States  I  oppose  the  simple 
FACT,  that  for  the  time  being  no  such  governments  exist. 
The  broad  spaces  once  occupied  by  those  governments  are 
now  abandoned  and  vacated." 

Discussing  the  question  of  transition  to  rightful  govern 
ment  he  says :  "  And  here  the  question  occurs,  How  shall  this 
rightful  jurisdiction  be  established  in  the  vacated  States? 
Some  there  are,  so  impassioned  for  State  rights,  and  so  anx 
ious  for  forms  even  at  the  expense  of  substance,  that  they 
insist  upon  the  instant  restoration  of  the  old  State  govern 
ments  in  all  their  parts,  through  the  agency  of  loyal  citizens, 
who  meanwhile  must  be  protected  in  this  work  of  restoration. 
But  assuming  that  all  this  is  practicable,  as  it  clearly  is  not, 
it  attributes  to  the  loyal  citizens  of  a  Rebel  State,  however 
few  in  numbers,  —  it  may  be  an  insignificant  minority,  —  a 
power  clearly  inconsistent  with  the  received  principle  of  popu 
lar  government,  that  the  majority  must  rule,  .  .  .  but 
the  argument  for  State  Rights  assumes  that  all  these  rights 
may  be  lodged  in  voters  as  few  in  number  as  ever  controlled 
a  rotten  borough  of  England. 

"  Pray  admitting  that  a  minority  may  organize  the  new 
government,  how  shall  it  be  done?  and  by  whom  shall  it  be 
set  in  motion?  .  .  .  It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  the 
new  government  can  be  set  in  motion  without  a  resort  to 
some  revolutionary  proceeding,  instituted  either  by  the  citi 
zens  or  by  the  military  power,  —  unless  Congress,  in  the  exer 
cise  of  its  plenary  powers,  should  undertake  to  organize  the 
new  jurisdiction. 

"  But  every  revolutionary  proceeding  is  to  be  avoided.     It 


206     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

will  be  within  the  recollection  of  all  familiar  with  our  his 
tory,  that  our  fathers,  while  regulating  the  separation  of  the 
Colonies  from  the  parent  country,  were  careful  that  all  should 
be  done  according  to  the  forms  of  law,  so  that  the  thread 
of  legality  should  continue  unbroken.  To  this  end  the  Con 
tinental  Congress  interfered  by  a  supervising  direction.  But 
the  Tory  argument  in  that  day  denied  the  power  of  Con 
gress  as  earnestly  as  it  denies  this  power  now."  .  .  . 

"  But,  happily/'  he  says,  "  we  are  not  constrained  to  any 
such  revolutionary  proceeding.  The  new  governments  can 
all  be  organized  by  Congress,  which  is  the  natural  guardian 
of  people  without  any  immediate  government,  and  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Indeed, 
with  the  State  governments  already  vacated  by  rebellion,  the 
Constitution  becomes,  for  the  time,  the  supreme  and  only 
law,  binding  alike  on  President  and  Congress,  so  that  neither 
can  establish  any  law  or  institution  incompatible  with  it. 
And  the  whole  Rebel  region,  deprived  of  all  local  govern 
ment,  lapses  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  Congress, 
precisely  as  any  other  territory;  or,  in  other  words,  the  lift 
ing  of  the  local  governments  leaves  the  whole  vast  region 
without  any  other  government  than  Congress,  unless  the 
President  should  undertake  to  govern  it  by  military 
power."  .  .  . 

This  part  of  the  essay  concludes  with  a  declaration  that 
its  author  had  no  pride  of  opinion,  but  would  cheerfully  aban 
don  his  views  when  convinced  of  their  error.  He  next 
proceeds  to  an  examination  of  the  sources  of  Congressional 
power.  These,  he  asserts,  are  derived  from  the  necessity  of 
the  case,  for  Congress  must  have  jurisdiction  over  every  por 
tion  of  the  United  States  where  there  is  no  other  government; 
and  from  the  Rights  of  War,  which  he  deemed  not  less  abun 
dant  for  Congress  than  for  the  President.  "  It  is  Congress," 
he  contended,  "  that  conquers ;  and  the  same  authority  that 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  207 

conquers  must  govern."  A  third  source  of  authority,  com 
mon  alike  to  Congress  and  the  President,  was  the  constitu 
tional  provision  imposing  on  the  United  States  the  duty  of 
guarantying  republican  forms  of  government.  These  ample 
powers  were  confirmed  by  an  additional  grant  in  the  clause 
concerning  the  admission  of  new  States  "  into  this  Union." 
The  latter  left  it  with  Congress  to  prescribe  the  time  and 
manner  of  the  return  of  the  rebel  States,  assuming  that  they 
iwere  no  longer  de  facto  States  of  the  Union. 

Among  the  "  unanswerable  reasons  for  Congressional 
governments  "  the  article  says :  "  Slavery  is  so  odious  that  it 
can  exist  only  by  virtue  of  positive  law,  plain  and  unequivocal; 
but  no  such  words  can  be  found  in  the  Constitution.  There 
fore  Slavery  is  impossible  within  the  exclusive  jurisdiction 
of  the  National  Government.  .  .-  .  I  am  glad  to  believe 
that  it  is  implied,  if  not  expressed,  in  the  Chicago  Platform; 
.  .  »  but  if  the  rebel  territory  falls  under  the  exclusive 
jurisdiction  of  the  National  Government,  then  Slavery  will 
be  impossible  there.  »  *  .  The  moment  that  the  States 
fell,  Slavery  fell  also;  so  that,  even  without  any  Proc 
lamation  of  the  President,  Slavery  had  ceased  to  have 
a  legal  and  constitutional  existence  in  every  rebel 
State."  1 

"  Let  it  be  established  in  advance,"  declared  Mr.  Sumner, 
"  as  an  inseparable  incident  to  every  Act  of  Secession,  that 
it  is  not  only  impotent  against  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  but  that,  on  its 'occurrence,  both  soil  and  inhabitants 
will  lapse  beneath  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress,  and  no  State 
will  ever  again  pretend  to  secede." 

The  argument  of  which  an  epitome  has  been  given  was 
regarded  by  the  Postmaster-General,  Montgomery  Blair,  as 
formidable  enough  to  merit  attention,  and  he  accordingly 

1  Mr.  Sumner,  notwithstanding  this  view,  proposed  to  enact  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation  into  a  law.    See  pp.  272-273  infra. 


208    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

replied  in  a  speech  at  Rockville,  Maryland,  in  which  Sumner, 
for  arraying  himself  directly  against  the  President  on  a  ques 
tion  of  fundamental  policy  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  was 
mentioned  with  sharp  censure.  This  brought  upon  the  Cabi 
net  member,  and  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  over  his  shoulders,  much 
vehement  criticism.  It  was  in  relation  to  this  address  that 
the  President  said: 

The  controversy  between  the  two  sets  of  men  represented  by  Blair 
and  by  Sumner  is  one  of  mere  form  and  little  else.  I  do  not  think  Mr. 
Blair  would  agree  that  the  States  in  rebellion  are  to  be  permitted  to 
come  at  once  into  the  political  family  and  renew  their  performances, 
which  have  already  so  bedeviled  us,  and  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Sumner 
would  insist  that  when  the  loyal  people  of  a  State  obtain  supremacy 
in  their  councils  and  are  ready  to  assume  the  direction  of  their  own 
affairs  they  should  be  excluded.  I  do  not  understand  Mr.  Blair  to 
admit  that  Jefferson  Davis  may  take  his  seat  in  Congress  again  as  a 
representative  of  his  people.  I  do  not  understand  Mr.  Sumner  to 
assert  that  John  Minor  Botts  may  not.  So  far  as  I  understand  Mr. 
Sumner,  he  seems  in  favor  of  Congress  taking  from  the  Executive  the 
power  it  at  present  exercises  over  insurrectionary  districts  and  assuming 
it  to  itself;  but  when  the  vital  question  arises  as  to  the  right  and  privi 
lege  of  the  people  of  these  States  to  govern  themselves,  I  apprehend 
there  will  be  little  difference  among  loyal  men.  The  question  at  once 
is  presented,  In  whom  is  this  power  vested?  and  the  practical  matter 
for  discussion  is  how  to  keep  the  rebellious  population  from  over 
whelming  and  outvoting  the  loyal  minority.1 

Concisely  expressed,  the  theory  of  State  suicide  based  re 
construction  upon  the  right  of  Congress  to  legislate  for 
Federal  territories  and  to  admit  new  States  into  this  Union. 
In  one  view  it  rested  on  a  provision  in  the  Constitution  which 
makes  it  obligatory  on  the  States  to  have  republican  govern 
ments.  This  side  of  the  doctrine  shaded  into  the  conserva 
tive  view,  according  to  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  States 
to  be  represented  in  Congress;  but  Sumner,  as  will  subse 
quently  appear,  maintained  that  the  Confederate  States  should 
not  be  counted  when  numbers  were  to  be  estimated  in  the 
1 N.  and  H.,  Vol.  IX.  pp.  335-336. 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  209 

adoption  of  constitutional  amendments;  also  that  Congress 
had  power  to  prescribe  the  qualifications  of  voters  for  con 
ventions  in  those  States.  This  view  regarded  the  war  as  a 
conflict  of  ideas;  it  assumed  to  find  authority  in  the  individ 
ual  conscience  discerning  the  will  of  God,  was  inclined  to 
disallow  objective  standards,  and  to  consider  all  law  as  matter 
of  subjective  determination.  From  a  careful  perusal  of  his 
speeches  Mr.  Sumner  appears  to  have  insisted  that  a  repub 
lican  form  of  government  could  be  such  a  one  only  as  con 
formed  to  his  subjective  ideas.  Except  his  own  State,  whose 
constitution  of  1780  was  held  to  have  .abolished  slavery  in 
that  Commonwealth,  no  one  of  the  States  in  1789  possessed, 
according  to  his  notions,  a  republican  form  of  government. 
His  touchstone  of  republicanism  was  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence.  In  short,  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution 
appear  to  have  been  found,  not  in  the  written  instrument, 
but  in  his  individual  conceptions  of  political  justice,  equality 
and  liberty  whereby  he  constituted  himself  a  new  source  of 
law.  In  the  matter  of  a  subjective  standard  of  natural  jus 
tice  and  the  like,  the  "  radicals  "  generally  agreed  with  Sum 
ner.1 

The  position  that  the  object  of  the  war  from  the  beginning, 
on  the  part  of  the  Federal  authorities,  was  to  fulfill  the  guar 
anty  of  a  republican  form  of  government  is  untenable.  It 
may.  well  be  doubted  whether  the  community  so  guaran 
teed  can  be  restricted  to  any  particular  government;  indeed, 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  government  not  voluntarily  in 
stituted  by  the  people  of  a  State  can  be  called  republican. 
By  having  a  government  imposed  by  Congress  they  would 
resemble  the  people  of  a  Territory,  and  the  result  would  be 
an  inequality  among  the  States  composing  the  Union. 

1  In  his  Theory  of  our  National  Existence  (passim)  and  in  the  Amer 
ican  Law  Review  for  January,  1865,  Mr.  John  C.  Kurd  has  much  keen 
criticism  of  the  reconstruction  theories  of  Sumner  and  others. 


210    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Though  it  has  been  commended  as  well  written,  there  is 
some  crude  thinking  and  even  cruder  phraseology  in  the  pre 
amble  as  well  as  in  the  resolutions  themselves.  Mr.  Sumner 
appears  to  have  been  much  influenced  by  feudal  and  other  his 
torical  analogies.  It  will  be  seen  later  how  he  recoiled  some 
what  from  accepting  fully  the  consequences  of  his  own  prin 
ciples.1  The  famous  theory  of  State  suicide,  as  tersely  stated 
by  an  able  advocate  of  the  doctrine,  was  in  effect  that  "  a 
Territory  by  coming  into  the  Union  becomes  a  State;  a  State 
by  going  out  of  the  Union  becomes  a  Territory."  2 

To  offset  the  resolutions  of  Sumner,  Hon.  Garrett  Davis, 
of  Kentucky,  introduced  two  days  later  a  series  of  eight  prop 
ositions.  Of  these  the  first  asserts  that  the  rights,  privi 
leges  and  liberties  which  the  Constitution  assures  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  "  are  fixed,  permanent,  and  im 
mutable  through  all  the  phases  of  peace  and  war,  until  changed 
by  the  power  and  in  the  mode  prescribed  by  the  Constitution 
itself." 

In  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  however,  the  last  is  the 
most  interesting  of  the  series.  This  declares  "  That  the 
United  States  Government  should  march  their  armies  into 
all  the  insurgent  States,  and  promptly  put  down  the  military 
power  which  they  have  arrayed  against  it,  and  give  pro 
tection  and  security  to  the  loyal  men  thereof,  to  enable  them 
to  reconstruct  their  legitimate  State  governments,  and  bring 
them  and  the  people  back  to  the  Union  and  to  obedience  and 
duty  under  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United 
•States,  bearing  the  sword  in  one  hand  and  the  olive  branch 
in  the  other,  and  whilst  inflicting  on  the  guilty  leaders  con 
dign  and  exemplary  punishment,  granting  amnesty  and  ob 
livion  to  the  comparatively  innocent  masses;  and  if  the  people 
of  any  State  cannot,  or  will  not  reconstruct  their  State  gov- 

1  Colloquy  with  Senator  Doolittle,  December  19,  1866,  Cong.  Globe, 
p.  192.  *  Brownson's  American  Republic,  p.  308. 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  211 

ernment  and  return  to  loyalty  and  duty,  Congress  should 
provide  a  government  for  such  State  as  a  Territory  of  the 
United  States,  securing  to  the  people  thereof  their  appropriate 
constitutional  rights."  * 

These  propositions,  like  the  resolutions  of  Sumner,  were 
never  taken  up  for  discussion,  and  they  are  referred  to  as 
containing  a  clear  expression,  by  a  Southern  Democrat,2  of 
extra-constitutional  powers  in  treating  incorrigible  States  as 
Territories. 

Sumner  was  not  alone  in  maintaining  novel  opinions  con 
cerning  the  relation  of  the  seceded  States  to  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment.  A  theory  destined  to  exert  even  greater  influence  in 
shaping  the  plan  of  reconstruction  finally  adopted  was  an 
nounced  at  the  very  commencement  of  hostilities  by  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  of  Pennsylvania,  then  one  of  the  foremost  members 
of  the  Republican  party  and  a  few  years  later  its  acknowl 
edged  leader  in  the  House.  Unlike  the  Massachusetts  Sena 
tor,  Mr.  Stevens  never  formulated  his  views  of  State  status; 
but  as  he  urged  them  on  almost  every  conceivable  occasion 
the  essential  principles  of  his  system  may  be  easily  collected 
from  his  numerous  speeches  in  Congress.  Subjects  of  legisla 
tion  orjly  remotely  related  to  his  favorite  topic  appear  to  have 
been  regarded  by  him  as  important  chiefly  because  of  the 
opportunity  afforded  to  express  his  sentiments  on  the  meas 
ures  necessary  to  reorganization.  These  opinions,  he  de 
clared,  had  been  deliberately  formed;  we  know  that  to  the 
end  they  were  persistently  urged  and  ably  defended.  Because 
of  their  radical  nature  and  the  frequency  with  which  they 
were  reiterated  Stevens  was  by  many  regarded  as  a  sort  of 
fanatic;  this  estimate  was  confirmed,  no  doubt,  by  his  bodily 
deformity  as  well  as  by  an  apparent  want  of  amiability  and 
a  certain  bluntness  of  expression.  Even  by  keen  observers  he 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  323. 

*  Mr.  Davis  is  sometimes  classed  as  a  Unionist. 


212     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

was  at  first  considered  a  man  of  mediocre  ability.  But,  though 
not  to  be  compared  with  the  giant  race  of  an  earlier  generation, 
he  was  a  statesman  far  above  the  common-place.  Among  the 
multitude  of  plans  and  theories  offered  in  Congress  his  system 
was  distinguished  for  the  harmony  of  its  parts;  and  enemies 
who  hated,  no  less  than  followers  who  feared,  him  were 
forced  to  admit  the  consistency  of  his  principles. 

The  limitations  of  Stevens  in  the  field  of  constructive 
statesmanship  cannot  now  be  discussed;  for  their  consideration 
belongs  properly  to  an  examination  of  the  first  reconstruction 
act,  which  was  no  more  than  a  modification  of  his  theory. 
Long  before  Sumner's  plan  had  agitated  timid  conservatives 
the  Pennslyvania  leader  by  his  extreme  opinions  had  aston 
ished  Congress.  When  the  question  of  discharging  from 
labor  or  service  those  slaves  employed  in  hostility  to  the 
United  States  came  before  the  House  at  the  special  session 
beginning  July  4,  1861,  Stevens  said: 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  thought  the  time  had  come  when  the  laws  of  war 
were  to  govern  our  action ;  when  constitutions,  if  they  stood  in  the  way 
of  the  laws  of  war  in  dealing  with  the  enemy,  had  no  right  to  inter 
vene.  Who  pleads  the  Constitution  against  our  proposed  action? 
Who  says  the  Constitution  must  come  in,  in  bar  of  our  action  ?  It  is  the 
advocates  of  rebels,  of  rebels  who  have  sought  to  overthrow  the  Consti 
tution  and  trample  it  in  the  dust  —  who  repudiate  the  Constitution. 
Sir,  these  rebels,  who  have  disregarded  and  set  at  defiance  that  instru 
ment,  are,  by  every  rule  of  municipal  and  international  law,  estopped 
from  pleading  it  against  our  action.  Who,  then,  is  it  that  comes  to 
us  and  says,  "  You  cannot  do  this  thing,  because  your  Constitution  does 
not  permit  it  ? "  The  Constitution !  Our  Constitution,  which  you  re 
pudiate  and  trample  under  foot,  forbids  it!  Sir,  it  is  an  absurdity. 
There  must  be  a  party  in  court  to  plead  it,  and  that  party,  to  be 
entitled  to  plead  it  in  court,  must  first  acknowledge  its  supremacy,  or 
he  has  no  business  to  be  in  court  at  all.  I  repeat,  then,  that  those  who 
bring  in  this  plea  here,  in  bar  of  our  action,  are  the  advocates  of  rebels. 
They  are  nothing  else,  whatever  they  intend.  I  mean  it,  of  course,  in 
a  legal  sense.  I  mean  they  are  acting  in  the  capacity  of  counsellors- 
at-law  for  the  rebels ;  they  are  speaking  for  them,  and  not  for  us  —  who 
are  the  plaintiffs  in  this  transaction.  I  deny  that  they  have  any  right  to 
plead  at  all.  I  deny  that  they  have  any  standing  in  court.  I  deny  that 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  213 

they  have  any  right  to  invoke  this  Constitution,  which  they  deny  has 
authority  over  them,  which  they  set  at  defiance  and  trample  under  foot. 
I  deny  that  they  can  be  permitted  to  come  here  and  tell  us  we  must  be 
loyal  to  the  Constitution.1 

The  expectation  almost  universally  cherished  at  this  time 
was  that  when  the  insurrection  should  have  been  suppressed, 
as  it  was  confidently  believed  it  speedily  would  be,  the  erring 
States,  without  the  interposition  of  Federal  authority,  would 
resume  their  normal  relations  to  the  General  Government. 
With  this  state  of  public  opinion  in  mind  it  will  readily  be 
perceived  how  great  an  interval  separated  Mr.  Stevens  from 
both  parties  in  Congress.  The  opening  sentence  of  the  re 
marks  quoted  contains  the  essential  idea  of  his  theory  of  the 
change  resulting  from  rebellion.  Armed  secession  had  un 
locked  the  war  powers,  and  the  Constitution,  where  it  con 
flicted  with  these  powers,  had  ceased  to  be  a  restraint  upon 
government.  The  military  had  risen  superior  to  the  civil 
authority.  The  principle  was  boldly  and  emphatically  an 
nounced  that  those  who  repudiated  and  defied  the  supreme 
law  could  not  at  the  same  time  plead  its  provisions. 

On  January  8,  1863,  the  appropriation  bill  being  under 
consideration,  an  amendment  was  offered  to  add  to  the  clause 
"  for  compensation  of  thirty-three  commissioners,  at  $3,000 
each,  and  eleven  clerks,  at  $1,200  each,  $112,200,"  the  fol 
lowing  : 

Provided,  A  sufficient  sum  shall  be  collected  in  the  insurrectionary 
States  to  pay  said  salaries :  And  provided  further,  That  no  greater  sum 
shall  at  any  time  be  paid  to  said  commissioners,  or  to  any  of  them, 
than  shall  have  been  collected  from  the  taxes  in  the  insurrectionary 
States,  and  paid  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  * 

The  discussion  which  ensued  brought  out  an  expression  of 
views  relative  to  the  position  of  the  seceded  States  under  the 
Federal  Government.  Stevens  in  the  course  of  his  remarks 

1  Globe,  i  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  414. 

2  Globe,  Part  I.,  3  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  238. 


214     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

said :  "  I  did  say,  sir,  that  I  find  no  warrant  in  the  Constitu 
tion  for  the  admission,  under  the  Constitution,  of  West  Vir 
ginia.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky 
voted  for  that  bill  or  not."  Mr.  Dunlap,  the  member  referred 
to,  stated  that  he  had  voted  against  the  bill,  because  he  deemed 
it  unconstitutional.  After  this  explanation  the  Pennsylvania 
leader  proceeded  as  follows: 

Then  the  gentleman  voted  against  it  upon  the  same  opinion  I  expressed, 
that  it  was  unconstitutional.  But  I  went  further  and  voted  for  it 
because  I  did  not  believe  that  the  Constitution  embraced  a  State  now 
in  arms  against  the  Government  of  this  Union  and  I  hold  that  doctrine 
now.  It  was  not  said  upon  the  spur  of  the  occasion.  It  is  a  deliberate 
opinion,  formed  upon  a  careful  examination  of  the  law  of  the  United 
States  and  the  laws  of  nations. 

Though  it  may  be  out  of  place  just  now,  I  will  give  one  or  two 
reasons  for  my  opinion.  The  establishment  of  our  blockade  admitted 
the  Southern  States,  the  Confederates,  to  be  a  belligerent  power.  Foreign 
nations  have  all  admitted  them  as  a  belligerent  power.  Whenever  that 
came  to  be  admitted  by  us  and  by  foreign  nations,  it  placed  the  rebel 
lious  States  precisely  in  the  condition  of  an  alien  enemy  with  regard 
to  duties  and  obligations.  Now,  I  think  there  is  nothing  more  plainly 
written  in  the  law  of  nations  than  that  whenever  a  war,  which  is 
admitted  to  be  a  national  war,  springs  up  between  nation  and  nation, 
ally  and  ally,  confederate  and  confederate,  every  obligation  which  pre 
viously  existed  between  them,  whether  treaty,  compact,  contract,  or 
anything  else,  is  wholly  abrogated,  and  from  that  moment  the  belliger 
ents  act  toward  each  other,  not  according  to  any  municipal  obligations, 
not  according  to  any  compacts  or  treaties,  but  simply  according 
to  the  laws  of  war.  And  I  hold  and  maintain  that  with  regard  to  all 
the  Southern  States  in  rebellion.  I  do  not  speak  of  Kentucky,  but  of 
those  States  which  have  gone  out  under  an  act  of  legislation  or  con 
vention  —  the  Constitution  has  no  binding  influence  and  no  application. 

In  answer  to  a  question  by  Representative  Dunlap  he  stated 
further  that  the  seceded  States,  in  his  opinion,  were  not 
members  of  the  Union.  "  The  ordinances  of  secession,"  he 
added,  "  backed  by  the  armed  power  which  made  them  a 
belligerent  nation,  did  take  them,  so  far  as  present  operations 
are  concerned,  from  under  the  laws  of  the  nation."  When 
asked  how,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  215 

Means,  he  proposed  to  pass  an  appropriation  to  pay  officers 
to  collect  revenue  in  States  which  did  not  belong  to  the 
Union,  he  said : 

I  propose  to  levy  that  tax,  and  collect  it  as  a  war  measure.  I  would 
levy  a  tax  wherever  I  can  upon  these  conquered  provinces,  just  as  all 
nations  levy  them  upon  provinces  and  nations  they  conquer.  If  my 
views  and  principles  are  right,  I  would  not  only  collect  that  tax,  but  I 
would,  as  a  necessary  war  measure,  take  every  particle  of  property,  real 
and  personal,  life  estate  and  reversion,  of  every  disloyal  man,  and  sell 
it  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation  in  carrying  on  this  war.  We  have  such 
power  and  we  are  to  treat  them  simply  as  provinces  to  be  conquered, 
and  as  a  nation  fighting  in  hostility  to  us  until  we  do  conquer  them. 
To  me  it  is  a  great  absurdity  to  say  that  men,  by  millions,  in  arms,  shall 
claim  the  protection  of  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  made 
for  loyal  men,  while  they  do  not  obey  one  of  those  laws,  but  repudiate 
their  binding  effect.  There  never  was  a  principle  more  clear  than  that 
every  obligation,  whether  in  a  national  or  civil  point  of  view,  in  order  to 
be  binding,  must  be  reciprocal;  and  that  the  moment  the  duty  ceases 
upon  the  one  part,  the  obligation  ceases  upon  the  other ;  and  that,  in  my 
judgment,  is  precisely  the  condition  of  the  rebel  States  now. 

The  secession  ordinance  of  South  Carolina  he  characterized 
in  response  to  an  inquiry  as  an  act  of  treason  and  rebellion, 
and  when  asked  whether  the  backing  up  of  these  ordinances 
by  armed  force  imparted  to  them  any  validity,  he  replied: 
"  I  hold  that  so  long  as  they  remain  in  force  against  us  as  a 
belligerent  power,  and  until  they  are  conquered,  it  is  in  fact 
an  existing  operation.  I  will  not  say  anything  about  its 
legality.  [Laughter.]  I  hold  that  it  is  an  existing  fact, 
and  that  so  far  from  enforcing  any  laws,  you  have  not  the 
power." 

To  Mr.  Yeaman,  who  asked  whether  those  people  were  then 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  whether  they  formed  an  in 
dependent  nation,  and  if  the  latter  whence  was  derived  the 
right  or  the  authority  to  wage  war  against  them,  and  to  tax 
them  for  the  support  of  that  war,  Stevens  answered :  "  I  hold 
that  the  Constitution,  in  the  first  place,  so  far  operated  that 
when  they  went  into  secession  and  armed  rebellion  they  com- 


216    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

mitted  treason;  and  that  when  they  so  combined  themselves 
as  to  make  themselves  admitted  as  belligerents  —  not  merely 
as  men  in  insurrection,  but  as  belligerents  —  they  did  acquire 
the  right  to  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  all  the  other 
rights  which  pertain  to  belligerents  under  the  laws  of  nations.'' 
Some  members  held  in  utter  abhorrence  the  principles  of 
the  Pennsylvania  leader;  others  were  astonished  at  their 
boldness.  It  was  in  the  course  of  this  discussion,  participated 
in  by  many  Representatives,  that  Stevens  defined  his  existing 
as  well  as  his  past  relations  to  his  party,  and  referred,  not 
without  a  touch  of  pride,  to  the  fact  that  hitherto  he  had 
pointed  out  the  way  for  the  Republican  majority  —  in  short, 
that  he  had  been  the  political  prophet  of  his  party.  He 
declared : 

I  know  perfectly  well,  as  I  said  before,  I  do  not  speak  the  sentiments 
of  this  side  of  the  House  as  a  party.  I  know  more  than  that:  that  for 
the  last  fifteen  years  I  have  always  been  a  step  ahead  of  the  party  I 
have  acted  with  in  these  matters;  but  I  have  never  been  so  far  ahead 
with  the  exception  of  the  principles  I  now  enunciate,  but  that  the 
members  of  the  party  have  overtaken  me  and  gone  ahead ;  and  they, 
together  with  the  gentleman  from  New  York,  [Mr.  Olin]  will  again 
overtake  me  and  go  with  me,  before  this  infamous  and  bloody  rebellion 
is  ended.  They  will  find  that  they  cannot  execute  the  Constitution  in  the 
seceding  States;  that  it  is  a  total  nullity  there;  and  that  this  war  must 
be  carried  on  upon  principles  wholly  independent  of  it.  They  will  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  adoption  of  the  measures  I  advocated  at  the 
outset  of  the  war,  the  arming  of  the  negroes,  the  slaves  of  the  rebels, 
is  the  only  way  left  on  earth  in  which  these  rebels  can  be  exterminated. 
They  will  find  that  they  must  treat  those  States  now  outside  of  the 
Union  as  conquered  provinces  and  settle  them  with  new  men,  and  drive 
the  present  rebels  as  exiles  from  this  country ;  for  I  tell  you  they  have 
the  pluck  and  endurance  for  which  I  gave  them  credit  a  year  and  a 
half  ago  in  a  speech  which  I  made,  but  which  was  not  relished  on  this 
side  of  the  House,  nor  by  the  people  in  the  free  States.  They  have  such 
determination,  energy,  and  endurance,  that  nothing  but  actual  extermina 
tion  or  exile  or  starvation  will  ever  induce  them  to  surrender  to  this 
Government.  I  do  not  ask  gentlemen  to  indorse  my  views,  nor  do  I 
speak  for  anybody  but  myself;  but  in  order  that  I  may  have  some 
credit  for  sagacity,  I  ask  that  gentlemen  will  write  this  down  in  their 
memories.  It  will  not  be  two  years  before  they  will  call  it  up,  or 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  217 

before  they  will  adopt  my  views,  or  adopt  the  other  alternative  of  a 
disgraceful  submission  by  this  side  of  the  country.1 

For  himself,  for  the  Administration  and  for  the  Republican 
party  even  so  radical  an  anti-slavery  man  as  Owen  Love  joy 
made  haste  to  repudiate  these  extreme  opinions. 

In  debate,  January  22,  1864,  Stevens  enunciated  still 
more  clearly  the  fundamental  principles  of  his  system.  "  I 
mean  to  say,"  he  declared  on  that  occasion,  "  that  if  a  State, 
as  a  State,  makes  war  upon  the  Government  and  becomes  a 
belligerent  power,  we  treat  it  as  a  foreign  nation,  and  when 
we  conquer  it  we  treat  it  just  as  we  do  any  other  foreign 
nation."  "  There  can  be  no  neutrals,"  he  added,  "  in  a  hostile 
State."  If  loyal  people  domiciled  in  the  South  desired  to 
avoid  punishment  or  the  hardships  of  public  enemies,  they 
should  change  their  place  of  residence. 

Relative  to  discerning  the  State  in  the  Union  minority 
he  observed :  "If  ten  men  fit  to  save  Sodom  can  elect  a 
Governor  and  other  State  officers  for  and  against  the  eleven 
hundred  thousand  Sodomites  in  Virginia,  then  the  democratic 
doctrine  that  the  majority  shall  rule  is  discarded  and  dan 
gerously  ignored.  When  the  doctrine  that  the  quality  and 
not  the  number  of  voters  is  to  decide  the  right  to  govern,  then 
we  are  no  longer  a  republic,  but  the  worst  form  of  despotism." 
It  was  a  mere  mockery,  he  affirmed,  to  say  that  a  tithe  of 
the  residents,  because  they  were  holier  or  more  loyal  than 
others,  could  change  the  form  and  administer  the  government 
of  an  organized  State.  The  people  who  took  a  State  out  of 
the  Union  were  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  commonwealth, 
and,  so  far  as  the  General  Government  is  concerned,  sub 
ject  to  the  laws  of  war  and  of  nations,  both  while  the  war 
continued  and  when  it  ended. 2 

Northern  Democrats,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  I  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  239-243. 
*  Globe,  Part  I.,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  317. 


218    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

reconstruction,  were  consistent  advocates  of  a  doctrine  which 
involved  no  contradictions  like  the  system  of  Sumner  and  no 
element  of  vindictiveness  like  the  "  conquered  province " 
theory  of  Stevens.  Ordinances  of  secession  they  held  to  be 
null  and  void ;  these  measures  in  no  way  impaired  the  vitality 
or  contracted  the  scope  of  the  Constitution  because  the  power 
by  which  they  were  temporarily  maintained,  however  near 
to  attaining  its  object,  had  not  been  crowned  with  success. 
The  result  of  the  conflict  could  alone  determine  whether  the 
bond  of  union  between  the  seceding  and  the  loyal  States  had 
been  severed.  Armed  resistance  to  the  supreme  law  was 
treason  in  those  so  engaged,  even  though  such  resistance 
was  decreed  by  States.  Ante-bellum  relations  would  con 
tinue  unimpaired  if  the  General  Government  succeeded  in 
suppressing  the  rebellion.  This  doctrine,  once  a  State  in 
the  Union  always  a  State,  was,  so  far,  in  harmony  with  the 
policy  adopted  by  the  Administration  at  the  commencement 
of  hostilities. 

With  all  the  following  propositions,  however,  the  policy 
of  the  Government  was  not  in  entire  accord,  nor,  indeed,  was 
it  in  exact  conformity  with  the  principles  above  ascribed  to  the 
President.  The  people  of  a  State,  the  Democratic  leaders 
asserted,  are  the  State,  in  the  widest  sense  of  that  term, 
and  they  make  its  fundamental  law;  to  be  their  constitution 
it  must  be  their  unrestrained  and  voluntary  act,  not  a  result 
of  coercion  or  intimidation.  When  they  have  freely  acted, 
then  the  only  essential  conditions  of  a  State  constitution,  in 
its  Federal  relations,  are  that  it  should  be  republican  in  form 
and  not  conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
South  Carolina,  for  example,  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Union  by  the  Constitution  and  the  consent  of  her  people; 
except  successful  revolution  no  other  power  could  unmake 
her.  That  revolution  being  unsuccessful  she  was  still  in 
the  Union.  The  idea  that  a  State  was  partly  out  of  and 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  219 

partly  in  the  Union,  Democratic  doctrine  regarded  as  an 
absurdity.  State  officers,  indeed,  could  commit  suicide;  a 
majority  of  its  people  could  commit  suicide;  but  the  State  did 
not,  therefore,  cease  to  exist,  for  the  idea  of  a  State  involved 
the  fourfold  notion  of  a  defined  territory,  people  occupying  it, 
functions  constituting  a  system  of  government  and  officers  to 
administer  it. 

Representative  Joseph  K.  Edgerton,  of  Indiana,  in  an  able 
speech  delivered  February  20,  1865,  said  that  he  accepted  the 
principle  of  President  Lincoln's  inaugural  and  only  regretted 
that  after  so  clear  and  sound  a  statement  of  constitutional  law 
and  good  intentions  the  President  had  subsequently  come  to  the 
same  conclusion  as  Mr.  Stevens.  The  theory  then  announced 
was  the  only  one  consistent  with  the  true  constitutional  idea 
that  the  Federal  Union  is  a  perpetual  union  of  States,  and 
that  each  State,  as  an  individual  member  of  the  Union,  has 
in  itself  the  same  element  of  perpetuity  that  belongs  to  the 
aggregate  Republic  formed  by  the  Federal  union  of  States. 
The  Union  can  be  held  to  be  perpetual  only  on  the  principle 
that  the  States  composing  it  are  perpetual  corporations  or 
bodies  politic,  and  indestructible  by  any  act  of  the  aggregate 
body  or  by  their  own  act.  The  States  united  cannot  destroy 
a  single  commonwealth ;  power  to  do  that  is  power  to  consoli 
date  the  States  into  one.  A  single  member  cannot  destroy  the 
Union;  power  to  do  that  is  power  to  secede,  and  neither  con 
solidation  nor  secession  is  a  principle  of  the  Union.  Here 
we  have  in  amplified  form  the  celebrated  declaration  of  Chief 
Justice  Chase,  that  the  Constitution  in  all  its  provisions  con 
templates  "  an  indestructible  union  of  indestructible  States."  1 
For  a  different  though  a  very  able  presentation  of  Democratic 
theory  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  address  of  Mr.  Pendleton 
on  the  bill  to  guarantee  republican  forms  of  government  to  the 
rebellious  States.2 
1  Texas  vs.  White,  7  Wall.,  p.  725.  8  See  Chapter  VII.,  pp.  257-261,  infra. 


270    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Though  this  theory  of  a  perpetual  Union  was  the  one  almost 
universally  held  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  it  came  during 
the  progress  of  the  conflict  to  be  little  regarded  by  the  domi 
nant  party  in  Congress;  by  Republican  leaders  it  was  soon  cast 
aside  with  indignation  or  contempt;  it  remained  unaltered 
when  their  views  of  State  status  were  adapted  to  changed  con 
ditions,  and  the  Democratic  organization,  so  far  at  least  as 
reconstruction  was  concerned,  settled  down  into  little  more 
than  a  party  of  protest. 

The  silence  in  which  Sumner's  propositions  were  received 
may  be  regarded  as  a  negative  testimony  to  the  conservative 
sentiments  of  Senators  even  after  war  had  existed  for  nearly 
a  year;  the  House,  however,  just  twelve  months  before  the 
Massachusetts  Senator  offered  his  plan,  February  n,  1861, 
made  a  positive  declaration  of  its  opinion  relative  to  the  limi 
tations  of  Federal  authority  by  passing  unanimously  the  fol 
lowing  resolution :  "  That  neither  Congress,  nor  the  people 
or  the  governments  of  the  non-slaveholding  States,  have  the 
right  to  legislate  upon  or  interfere  with  slavery  in  any  of 
the  slaveholding  States  in  the  Union."  *  This  deliberate  ex 
pression  establishes  beyond  question  the  fact  that  the  Con 
stitution,  as  then  understood,  gave  no  authority  to  the  Federal 
Government  to  interfere  with,  control  or  regulate  relations 
between  master  and  slave  in  any  State  which  recognized  the 
right  of  property  in  man.  On  this  subject  the  people  were 
practically  unanimous,  their  Representatives  entirely  so.  Even 
three  months  of  war,  with  all  the  antagonisms  and  all  the  bit 
terness  excited,  failed  to  shake  this  conviction. 

On  July  22,  1 86 1,  the  day  after  the  disaster  at  Bull  Run, 
Representative  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky,  introduced  the  fol 
lowing  resolution : 

That  the  present  deplorable  civil  war  has  been  forced  upon  the 
country  by  the  disunionists  of  the  Southern  States,  now  in  arms  against 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  36th  Cong.,  p.  857. 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  221 

the  constitutional  Government,  and  in  arms  around  the  capital;  that 
in  this  national  emergency,  Congress,  banishing  all  feelings  of  mere 
passion  or  resentment,  will  recollect  only  its  duty  to  the  whole  country; 
that  this  war  is  not  waged  on  their  part  in  any  spirit  of  oppression,  or 
for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  or  purpose  of  overthrowing 
or  interfering  with  the  rights  or  established  institutions  of  those  States, 
but  to  defend  and  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  and  to 
preserve  the  Union  with  all  the  dignity,  equality,  and  rights  of  the 
several  States  unimpaired;  and  that  as  soon  as  these  objects  are  ac 
complished  the^war  ought  to  cease. 

Only  two  votes  were  recorded  against  it.1  Four  days  later 
Andrew  Johnson  offered  in  the  upper  House  a  resolution  in 
nearly  the  same  language,  and  it  was  opposed  by  only  five 
Senators.  There  is  little  doubt  that  this  practical  unanimity 
in  Congress  reflected  the  sentiment  of  almost  the  entire  North. 
This  conspicuous  landmark,  so  frequently  referred  to  before 
the  reunion  was  completed,  will  be  useful  to  show  how  far 
the  warring  factions  drifted  during  the  progress  of  the  con 
flict. 

Senator  Trumbull,  of  Illinois,  who  disliked  certain  expres 
sions  in  the  form  in  which  it  was  proposed,  said,  relative  to  the 
object  of  the  war  as  declared  by  the  resolution : 

I  trust  this  war  is  prosecuted  for  the  purpose  of  subjugating  all 
rebels  and  traitors  who  are  in  arms  against  the  Government.  What 
do  you  mean  by  "  subjugation"?  I  know  that  persons  in  the  Southern 
States  have  sought  to  make  this  a  controversy  between  States  and  the 
Federal  Government,  and  have  talked  about  coercing  States  and  subju 
gating  States;  but,  sir,  it  has  never  been  proposed,  so  far  as  I  know,  on 
the  part  of  the  Union  people  of  the  United  States,  to  subjugate  States  or 
coerce  States.  It  is  proposed,  however,  to  subjugate  citizens  who  are 
standing  out  in  defiance  of  the  laws  of  the  Union,  and  to  coerce  them  into 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  Union.  I  dislike  that  word  in  this  connec 
tion.  In  its  broadest  sense  I  am  opposed  to  it.  If  it  means  the  war  is  not 
for  the  purpose  of  the  subjugation  of  traitors  and  rebels  into  obedience  to 
the  laws,  then  I  am  opposed  to  it.  I  trust  the  war  is  prosecuted  for  that 
very  purpose.  I  move  to  strike  out  the  words  "  and  in  arms  around 
the  capital,"  and  also  the  words  "  or  subjugation." a 

1  Globe,  i  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  pp.  222-223. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  258. 


222    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Mr.  Harris,  of  New  York,  said :  "  If  slavery  shall  be  abol 
ished,  shall  be  overthrown  as  a  consequence  of  this  war,  I 
shall  not  shed  a  tear  over  that  result;  but,  sir,  it  is  not  the 
purpose  of  the  Government  to  prosecute  this  war  for  the  pur 
pose  of  overthrowing  slavery.  If  it  comes  as  a  consequence, 
let  it  come;  but  it  is  not  an  end  of  the  war."  * 

In  the  succeeding  chapter  will  be  traced  with  some  degree 
of  fullness  the  sentiments  on  reconstruction,  in  July,  1864,  not 
only  of  the  majority  but  of  every  important  element  compos 
ing  Congress.  The  position  then  attained  by  the  average 
Republican  member,  it  must  be  repeated,  was  not  reached  at  a 
single  bound.  Its  progress  has  been  described  in  the  preced 
ing  pages.  The  vote  on  the  Crittenden  resolution  marks  the 
starting  point.  There  was  then,  though  war  had  existed  for 
three  months,  no  diversity  of  opinion  worthy  of  notice.  The 
successive  advances  from  the  declaration,  February  n,  1861, 
that  neither  Congress  nor  the  governments  of  the  free  States 
had  a  constitutional  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  any 
slaveholding  State  of  the  Union  to  the  passage  by  both 
Houses,  July  2,  1864,  of  the  Wade-Davis  bill,  which  proposed 
by  Federal  law  to  regulate  the  franchise  in  the  rebellious 
States,  to  appoint  provisional  governors  (empowered  to  dis 
solve  State  conventions),  and  to  prescribe  provisions  for  their 
local  constitutions,  form  one  of  the  most  instructive  commen 
taries  on  the  importance  of  necessity  as  a  principle  of  constitu 
tional  interpretation. 

A  resolution  introduced  December  4,  1861,  by  Mr.  Hoi- 
man,  of  Indiana,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  the  House  to  re 
affirm  the  Crittenden  propositions  of  July  22  preceding,  was 
tabled  by  a  vote  of  71  to  65.2 

A  discussion  of  the  various  theories  of  reconstruction  might 
seem  to  require  in  this  place,  by  way  of  anticipation,  at  least 

1  Globe,  i  Sess.  37th  Cong.,  p.  259. 
*  Ann.  Cycl.,  1862,  p.  277. 


THEORIES  AND  PLANS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  223 

a  summary  of  the  Congressional  plan;  but  as  this  was  the 
mode  of  reorganization  which  was  finally  imposed  on  the 
South  it  is  preferred  to  present  its  development  chronolog 
ically  and  to  consider  it  apart.  Several  of  the  remaining 
chapters  will  be  devoted  to  an  account  of  its  successive  modifi 
cations  until  the  subject  was  taken,  in  December,  1865,  alto 
gether  out  of  Executive  hands. 


VII 

RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN 

* 

A  PREVIOUS  chapter,  in  relating  the  military  events 
which  succeeded  the  disaster  at  Chickamauga,  noticed 
a  suggestion  of  the  defeated  Federal  commander  as 
well  as  Mr.  Lincoln's  reply  relative  to  the  publication  at  that 
time  of  a  declaration  of  amnesty  to  those  in  arms  against  the 
Government.1  The  double  victory  of  Mission  Ridge  and 
Lookout  Mountain,  following  the  removal  of  Rosecrans,  con 
firmed  the  President  in  his  purpose  of  offering  a  general  par 
don  to  those  who  would  lay  down  their  arms  and  return  to 
their  obedience  to  the  laws.  The  Proclamation  of  December 
8,  1863,  followed  promptly  and  brought  the  subject  of  recon 
struction  before  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress  at  its  first  ses 
sion.  The  preceding  pages  have  alluded  to  the  universal 
favor  with  which  that  announcement  was  received.  Though 
opposition  to  Executive  measures  was  hushed  for  the  time, 
it  appears  only  to  have  gathered  strength  in  this  brief  interval 
of  silence.  One  short  week  introduced  into  the  House  of 
Representatives  a  resolution  the  subsequent  progress  of  which 
brought  the  dominant  party  in  Congress  to  the  support  of  a 
measure  hostile  to  that  submitted  by  the  President.  Its  inter 
esting  history  may  be  collected  from  the  pages  of  the  Con 
gressional  Globe. 

On  December  15,  from  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means, 
Thaddeus  Stevens  reported  among  other  resolutions  one  to 
refer  so  much  of  the  President's  message  as  was  contained  in 

1  See  p.  23 t  ante. 

224 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       225 

the  Proclamation,  and  as  related  to  the  condition  and  treat 
ment  of  rebellious  States,  to  a  special  committee  of  nine  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Speaker.  Henry  Winter  Davis  inquired 
whether  Mr.  Stevens  would  accept  for  that  resolution  an 
amendment  pointing  more  directly  to  the  purpose  in  view. 
This  substitute  read  as  follows : 

That  so  much  of  the  President's  message  as  relates  to  the  duty 
of  the  United  States  to  guarantee  a  republican  form  of  government 
to  the  States  in  which  the  governments  recognized  by  the  United 
States  have  been  abrogated  or  overthrown,  be  referred  to  a  select  com 
mittee  of  nine,  to  be  named  by  the  Speaker,  which  shall  report  the 
bills  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing 
guaranty.1 

Stevens  offering  no  objection,  Representative  Davis  re 
marked  that  the  language  of  the  resolution  was  general,  and, 
he  believed,  would  cover  the  whole  war;  the  committee,  he 
supposed,  intended  to  point  to  what,  in  the  very  inaccurate 
phraseology  of  the  day,  was  known  as  the  question  of  recon 
struction;  but  believing  there  had  been  no  destruction,  he 
carefully  avoided  the  use  of  that  term. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  continued  Mr. 
Davis,  was  engaged  in  two  operations:  the  suppression  of 
armed  resistance  to  the  supreme  authority  of  the  nation  and  a 
very  delicate,  and  perhaps  as  high  a  duty- — to  see,  when 
armed  resistance  should  be  overcome,  that  governments  re 
publican  in  form  should  be  restored  in  all  those  States.  His 
substitute  directed  the  investigations  of  the  committee  to  that 
one  point.  It  was  not  intended  as  a  peremptory  instruction  to 
the  committee  to  report  any  particular  measure,  but  to  take 
such  action  as  their  wisdom  should  recommend. 

Democratic  feeling  on  this  subject  appears  in  an  inquiry  by 
Representative  Brooks,  of  New  York,  as  to  whether  republi 
can  governments  had  not  been  abrogated  and  overturned 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  33. 


226    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

north  as  well  as  south  of  the  Potomac  since  the  revolution 
began.1 

The  amendment  of  Mr.  Davis  prevailed,  and  of  the  spe 
cial  committee  appointed  he  was  made  chairman.  On  January 
1 8,  1864,  he  asked  unanimous  consent  to  report  a  bill  to  guar 
antee  certain  States  a  republican  form  of  government.  Ob 
jection  having  been  made,  he  moved  a  suspension  of  the  rules ; 
but  failing  to  receive  the  necessary  two  thirds  vote  his  motion 
was  lost.  On  February  15  succeeding,  when  he  brought  the 
measure  before  the  House  again  and  requested  a  postponement 
of  its  consideration  for  two  weeks,  it  encountered  Democratic 
opposition.  The  bill  was  then  read  a  first  and  second  time, 
ordered  to  be  printed,  and  returned  to  the  committee. 

On  March  22  the  bill  came  before  the  House  on  the  ques 
tion  of  ordering  it  to  be  engrossed  and  read  a  third  time.  In 
its  support  Mr.  Davis  made  an  able  address  in  which  he  an 
alyzed  the  plan  proposed  by  the  Executive  and  emphasized  its 
deficiencies.  He  said : 

The  bill  which  I  am  directed  by  the  Committee  on  the  Rebellious 
States  to  report  is  one  which  provides  for  the  restoration  of  civil  govern 
ment  in  States  whose  governments  have  been  overthrown.  It  prescribes 
such  conditions  as  will  secure  not  merely  civil  government  to  the  people 
of  the  rebellious  States,  but  will  also  secure  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  permanent  peace  after  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion. 

The  bill  challenges  the  support  of  all  who  consider  slavery  the 
cause  of  the  rebellion,  and  that  in  it  the  embers  of  rebellion  will  always 
smoulder ;  of  those  who  think  that  freedom  and  permanent  peace  are 
inseparable,  and  who  are  determined,  so  far  as  their  constitutional  au 
thority  will  allow  them,  to  secure  these  fruits  by  adequate  legislation. 

.  .  .  It  is  entitled  to  the  support  of  all  gentlemen  upon  this 
side  of  the  House,  whatever  their  views  may  be  of  the  nature  of  the 
rebellion;  and  the  relation  in  which  it  has  placed  the  people  and 
States  in  rebellion  toward  the  United  States,  not  less  of  those  who 
think  that  the  rebellion  has  placed  the  citizens  of  the  rebel  States 
beyond  the  protection  of  the  Constitution,  and  that  Congress,  there 
fore,  has  supreme  power  over  them  as  conquered  enemies,  than  of  that 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  34. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN 


227 


other  class  who  think  that  they  have  not  ceased  to  be  citizens  and 
States  of  the  United  States,  though  incapable  of  exercising  political 
privileges  under  the  Constitution,  but  that  Congress  is  charged  with  a 
high  political  power  by  the  Constitution  to  guarantee  republican  gov 
ernments  in  the  States,  and  that  this  is  the  proper  time  and  the  proper 
mode  of  exercising  it.  It  is  also  entitled  to  the  favorable  consideration 
of  gentlemen  upon  the  other  side  of  the  House,  who  honestly  and 
deliberately  express  their  judgment  that  slavery  is  dead.  To  them  it 
puts  the  question  whether  it  is  not  advisable  to  bury  it  out  of  our 
sight,  that  its  ghost  may  no  longer  stalk  abroad  to  frighten  us  from  our 
propriety. 

It  does  not  address  itself  to  that  class  of  gentlemen  upon  the  other 
side  of  the  House,  if  there  be  any,  nor  to  that  class  of  the  people  of  the 
country  who  look  for  political  alliance  to  the  men  who  head  the  rebellion 
in  the  South 

It  purports,  sir,  not  to  exercise  a  revolutionary  authority,  but  to  be 
an  execution  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  of  the  fourth 
section  of  the  fourth  article  of  that  Constitution,  which  not  merely 
confers  the  power  upon  Congress,  but  imposes  upon  Congress  the 
duty  of  guaranteeing  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form 
of  government.  That  clause  vests  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  a  plenary,  supreme,  unlimited  political  jurisdiction,  paramount 
over  courts,  subject  only  to  the  judgment  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  embracing  within  its  scope  every  legislative  measure  necessary 
and  proper  to  make  it  effectual;  and  what  is  necessary  and  proper  the 
Constitution  refers,  in  the  first  place,  to  our  judgment,  subject  to  no 
revision  but  that  of  the  people.  It  recognizes  no  other  tribunal.  It  rec 
ognizes  the  judgment  of  no  court.  It  refers  to  no  authority  except 
the  judgment  and  will  of  the  majority  of  Congress,  and  of  the  people 
on  that  judgment,  if  any  appeal  from  it. 

[Secession  he  described  as]  the  act  of  the  people  of  the  States, 
carrying  with  it  all  the  consequences  of  such  an  act.  And  therefore  it 
must  be  either  a  legal  revolution  which  makes  them  independent,  and 
makes  of  the  United  States  a  foreign  country,  or  it  is  a  usurpation 
against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  the  erection  of  govern 
ments  which  do  not  recognize  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
which  the  Constitution  does  not  recognize,  and,  therefore,  not  republi 
can  governments  of  the  States  in  rebellion.  The  latter  is  the  view 
which  all  parties  take  of  it.  I  do  not  understand  that  any  gentleman  on 
the  other  side  of  the  House  says  that  any  rebel  government  which 
does  not  recognize  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  which  is 
not  recognized  by  Congress,  is  a  State  government  within  the  meaning 
of  the  Constitution.  Still  less  can  it  be  said  that  there  is  a  State 
government,  republican  or  unrepublican,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
where  there  is  no  government  of  any  kind,  no  civil  authority,  no  or- 


228    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

ganized  form  of  administration  except  that  represented  by  the  flag 
of  the  United  States,  obeying  the  will,  and  under  the  orders  of  the 
military  officer  in  command.  It  is  the  language  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  in  every  proclamation,  of  Congress  in  every  law  on  the 
statute-book,  of  both  Houses  in  their  forms  of  proceeding,  and  of  the 
Courts  of  the  United  States  in  their  administration  of  the  law.  It  is 
the  result  of  every  principle  of  law,  of  every  suggestion  of  political 
philosophy,  that  there  can  be  no  republican  government  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States  that  does  not  recognize,  but  does  repudiate, 
the  Constitution,  and  which  the  President  and  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  do  not,  on  their  part,  recognize.  Those  that  are  here  rep 
resented  are  the  only  governments  existing  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States.  Those  that  are  not  here  represented  are  not  govern 
ments  of  the  States,  republican  under  the  Constitution.  And  if  they  be 
not,  then  they  are  military  usurpations,  inaugurated  as  the  permanent 
governments  of  the  States,  contrary  to  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
arrayed  in  arms  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States ;  and  it 
is  the  duty,  the  first  and  highest  duty,  of  the  Government  to  suppress  and 
expel  them.  Congress  must  either  expel,  or  recognize  and  support  them. 
If  it  do  not  guarantee  them,  it  is  bound  to  expel  them ;  and  they  who  are 
not  ready  to  suppress  them  are  bound  to  recognize  them. 

"  In  the  famous  Rhode  Island  cases,"  he  continued,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  by  the  mouth  of  Chief 
Justice  Taney,  declared  "  that  a  military  government,  estab 
lished  as  the  permanent  government  of  a  State,  is  not  a  re 
publican  government  in  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution,  and 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  suppress  it.  That  duty  Con 
gress  is  now  executing  by  its  armies.  He  [Justice  Taney]  fur 
ther  said  in  that  case  that  it  is  the  exclusive  prerogative  of 
Congress  —  of  Congress,  and  not  of  the  President  —  to  deter 
mine  what  is  and  what  is  not  the  established  government  of 
the  State;  and,  to  come  to  that  conclusion,  it  must  judge  of 
what  is  and  what  is  not  a  republican  government,  and  its  judg 
ment  is  conclusive  on  the  Supreme  Court,  which  cannot  judge 
of  the  fact  for  itself,  but  accepts  the  fact  declared  by  the  politi 
cal  department  of  the  Government." 

Mr.  Davis  resumed: 

We  are  now   engaged   in   suppressing   a   military   usurpation   of  the 
authority  of  the  State  government.    When  that  shall  have  been  accom- 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       229 

plished,  there  will  be  no  form  of  State  authority  in  existence  which 
Congress  can  recognize.  Our  success  will  be  the  overthrow  of  all 
semblance  of  government  in  the  rebel  States.  The  Government  of  the 
United  States  is  then,  in  fact,  the  only  Government  existing  in  those 
States,  and  it  is  there  charged  to  guarantee  them  republican  govern 
ments. 

.  .  .  The  duty  of  guaranteeing  carries  with  it  the  right  to  pass  all 
laws  necessary  and  proper  to  guaranty.  ...  It  places  in  the  hands 
of  Congress  the  right  to  say  what  is  and  what  is  not,  with  all  the  light  of 
experience  and  all  the  lessons  of  the  past,  inconsistent,  in  its  judgment, 
with  the  permanent  continuance  of  republican  government;  and  if,  in 
its  judgment,  any  form  of  policy  is  radically  and  inherently  inconsistent 
with  the  permanent  and  enduring  peace  of  the  country,  with  the  perma 
nent  supremacy  of  republican  government,  and  it  have  the  manliness 
to  say  so,  there  is  no  power,  judicial  or  executive,  in  the  United  States, 
that  can  even  question  this  judgment  but  the  PEOPLE;  and  they  can  do 
it  only  by  sending  other  representatives  here  to  undo  our  work.  The 
very  language  of  the  Constitution  and  the  necessary  logic  of  the  case 
involve  that  consequence.  The  denial  of  the  right  of  secession  means 
that  all  the  territory  of  the  United  States  shall  remain  under  the  juris 
diction  of  the  Constitution.  If  there  can  be  no  State  government  which 
does  not  recognize  the  Constitution,  and  which  the  authorities  of  the 
United  States  do  not  recognize,  then  there  are  these  alternatives,  and 
these  only:  the  rebel  States  must  be  governed  by  Congress  till  they 
submit  and  form  a  State  government  under  the  Constitution ;  or  Congress 
must  recognize  State  governments  which  do  not  recognize  either  Congress 
or  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  or  there  must  be  an  entire 
absence  of  all  government  in  the  rebel  States;  and  that  is  anarchy.  To 
recognize  a  government  which  does  not  recognize  the  Constitution  is 
absurd,  for  a  government  is  not  a  constitution;  and  the  recognition  of 
a  State  government  means  the  acknowledgment  of  men  as  governors, 
and  legislators,  and  judges,  actually  invested  with  power  to  make  laws, 
to  judge  of  crimes,  to  convict  the  citizens  of  other  States,  to  demand  the 
surrender  of  fugitives  from  justice,  to  arm  and  command  the  militia, 
to  require  the  United  States  to  repress  all  opposition  to  its  authority, 
and  to  protect  it  from  invasion  —  against  our  own  armies ;  whose  Sena 
tors  and  Representatives  are  entitled  to  seats  in  Congress,  and  whose 
electoral  votes  must  be  counted  in  the  election  of  the  President  of  a 
Government  which  they  disown  and  defy ! !  To  accept  the  alternative  of 
anarchy  as  the  constitutional  condition  of  a  State  is  to  assert  the  failure 
of  the  Constitution  and  the  end  of  republican  government.  Until,  there 
fore,  Congress  recognize  a  State  government,  organized  under  its  aus 
pices,  there  is  no  government  in  the  rebel  States  except  the  authority  of 
Congress.  In  the  absence  of  all  State  government,  the  duty  is  imposed 
on  Congress  ...  to  administer  civil  government  until  the  people 


230  LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

shall,  under  its  guidance,  submit  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and,  under  the  laws  which  it  shall  impose,  and  on  the  conditions 
Congress  may  require,  reorganize  a  republican  government  for  them 
selves,  and  Congress  shall  recognize  that  government. 

...  Is  it  yet  time  to  reorganize  the  State  governments?  or  is 
there  not  an  intermediate  period  in  which  sound  legislative  wisdom 
requires  that  the  authority  of  Congress  shall  take  possession  of  and 
temporarily  control  the  States  now  in  rebellion  until  peace  shall  be 
restored  and  republican  government  can  be  established  deliberately,  un 
disturbed  by  the  sound  or  fear  of  arms,  and  under  the  guidance  of 
law? 

After  referring  to  the  condition  of  the  rebellion,  Mr.  Davis 
declared :  "  We  have  occupied  a  vast  area  wrested  from  its 
power,  but  to  this  day  we  have  not  expelled  the  rebels  from 
any  State  they  ever  held."  In  no  portion  of  those  States  could 
military  power  "  be  withdrawn  for  a  moment  without  instant 
insurrection";  and  he  added,  "There  is  no  rebel  State  held 
now  by  the  United  States  enough  of  whose  population  adheres 
to  the  Union  to  be  intrusted  with  the  government  of  the  State. 
One  tenth  cannot  control  nine  tenths.  Five  tenths  are  no 
where  willing  to  undertake  the  control  of  the  other  five 
tenths."  In  West  Virginia,  he  said,  such  a  condition  existed 
and  had  been  recognized.  "  In  no  other  State  —  the  only  one 
in  respect  to  which  a  doubt  can  exist  is  Tennessee  —  in  no 
other  State  is  there  such  a  portion  of  territory  held,  or  any 
such  portion  of  population  under  our  control,  or  any  such  por 
tion  of  it  which  is  in  our  control  inspired  by  such  sentiments 
toward  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  so  free  from 
fear  of  the  returning  wave  of  rebel  invasion,  so  assured  of  the 
continued  supremacy  of  the  United  States,  that  we  ought  to 
be  willing  to  trust  them  with  this  power.  You  can  get  a 
handful  of  men  in  the  several  States  who  would  be  glad  to 
take  the  offices  if  protected  by  the  troops  of  the  United  States, 
but  you  have  nowhere  a  body  of  independent,  loyal  partisans 
of  the  United  States,  ready  to  meet  the  rebels  in  arms,  ready  to 
die  for  the  Republic,  who  claim  the  Constitution  as  their  birth- 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       231 

right,  count  all  other  privileges  light  in  comparison,  and  re 
solve  at  every  hazard  to  maintain  it." 

Concerning  the  loyal  masses  of  the  South,  of  whom  so 
much  was  heard  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  he  remarked : 

It  is  the  most  astounding  spectacle  in  history  that  In  the  Southern 
States,  with  more  than  half  of  the  population  opposed  to  it,  a  great 
revolution  was  effected  against  their  wishes  and  against  their  votes, 
without  a  battle,  a  riot,  or  a  protest  in  behalf  of  the  beneficent  Govern 
ment  of  their  fathers  —  a  revolution  whose  opponents  hastened  to  lead  it, 
without  a  martyr  to  the  cause  they  deserted  except  the  nameless  heroes 
of  the  mountains  of  Tennessee,  or  a  confessor  of  the  faith  they  had 
avowed  save  the  illustrious  Petigru  of  South  Carolina! 

.  .  .  There  is  no  fact  that  any  one  has  stated  on  authority  at  all 
reliable  that  any  respectable  proportion  of  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States  now  in  rebellion  are  willing  to  accept  any  terms  that  even  our 
opponents  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  are  willing  to  offer  them. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  do  with  the  population  in  these  States?  To 
make  "  confusion  worse  confounded "  by  erecting  by  the  side  of  the 
hostile  State  government  a  new  State  government  on  the  shifting  sands 
of  that  whirlpool,  to  be  supported  by  us  while  we  are  there  and  to 
turn  its  power  against  us  when  we  are  driven  out?  That  would  be  to 
erect  a  new  throne  where 

"  Chaos  umpire  sits, 
And  by  decision  more  embroils  the  fray 
By  which  he  reigns." 

In  my  judgment,  it  is  not  safe  to  confide  the  vast  authority  of  State 
governments  to  the  doubtful  loyalty  of  the  rebel  States  until  armed 
rebellion  shall  have  been  trampled  into  the  dust,  until  every  armed  rebel 
shall  have  vanished  from  the  State,  until  there  shall  be  in  the  South  no 
hope  of  independence  and  no  fear  of  subjection,  until  the  United  States 
is  bearded  by  no  military  power  and  the  laws  can  be  executed  by  courts 
and  sheriffs  without  the  ever-present  menace  of  military  authority. 
Until  we  have  reached  that  point,  this  bill  proposes  that  the  President 
shall  appoint  a  civil  governor  to  administer  the  government  under  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  in  force  in  the  States  respectively  at  the  out 
break  of  the  rebellion,  subject,  of  course,  to  the  necessities  of  military 
occupation. 

When  military  opposition  shall  have  been  suppressed,  con 
tinued  Mr.  Davis,  then  call  upon  the  people  to  reorganize  their 


23 2    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

governments  in  their  own  way,  "  subject  to  the  conditions 
that  we  think  essential  to  our  permanent  peace,  and  to  prevent 
the  revival  hereafter  of  the  rebellion.  .  .  . 

To  establish  republican  forms  of  government  that  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States  would  agree  to,  three  modes  were  in 
dicated  :  "  One  is  to  remove  the  cause  of  the  war  by  an  altera 
tion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  prohibiting  slav 
ery  everywhere  within  its  limits.  That,  sir,  goes  to  the  root 
of  the  matter,  and  should  consecrate  the  nation's  triumph. 
But  there  are  thirty- four  States  —  three  fourths  of  them  would 
be  twenty-six.  I  believe  there  are  twenty-five  States  repre 
sented  in  this  Congress,  so  that  we,  on  that  basis,  cannot 
change  the  Constitution.  It  is,  therefore,  a  condition  pre 
cedent  in -that  view  of  the  case,  that  more  States  shall  have 
governments  organized  within  them." 

He  next  noticed  the  calculation  based  on  three  fourths  of 
the  States  then  represented  in  Congress,  a  construction  held 
by  Thaddeus  Stevens,  but  even  that  view  was  not  without  its 
difficulties.  The  States  of  New  Jersey,  Kentucky,  Mary 
land  and  Delaware  were  named  as  doubtful.  If  such  an 
amendment  were  adopted  it  still  left  "  the  whole  field  of  the 
civil  administration  of  the  States  prior  to  the  recognition  of 
State  governments,  all  laws  necessary  to  the  ascertainment  of 
the  will  of  the  people,  and  all  restrictions  on  the  return  to 
power  of  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion,  wholly  unprovided  for.'* 
The  constitutional  amendment  met  his  hearty  approval,  but 
it  was  not  a  complete  remedy. 

Relative  to  the  Administration  policy,  he  observed : 

The  next  plan  is  that  inaugurated  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  in  the  proclamation  of  the  8th  of  December,  called  the  amnesty 
proclamation.  That  proposes  no  guardianship  of  the  United  States 
over  the  reorganization  of  the  governments,  no  law  to  prescribe  who  shall 
vote,  no  civil  functionaries  to  see  that  the  law  is  faithfully  executed, 
no  supervising  authority  to  control  and  judge  of  the  election.  But 
if,  in  any  manner,  by  the  toleration  of  martial  law,  lately  proclaimed  the 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       233 

fundamental  law,  under  the  dictation  of  any  military  authority,  or 
under  the  prescriptions  of  a  provost  marshal,  something  in  the  form  of 
a  government  shall  be  presented,  represented  to  rest  on  the  votes  of  one 
tenth  of  the  population,  the  President  will  recognize  that,  provided  it 
does  not  contravene  the  proclamation  of  freedom  and  the  laws  of  Con 
gress;  and,  to  secure  that,  an  oath  is  exacted. 

Now  you  will  observe  that  there  is  no  guarantee  of  law  to  watch  over 
the  organization  of  that  government.  It  may  combine  all  the  population 
of  a  State ;  it  may  combine  one  tenth  only ;  or  ten  governments  may 
come  competing  for  recognition  at  the  door  of  the  Executive  mansion. 
The  executive  authority  is  pledged ;  Congress  is  not  pledged.  It  may  be 
recognized  by  the  military  power  and  may  not  be  recognized  by  the  civil 
power,  so  that  it  would  have  a  doubtful  existence,  half  civil  and  half 
military,  neither  a  temporary  government  by  law  of  Congress  nor  a  State 
government,  something  as  unknown  to  the  Constitution  as  the  rebel  gov 
ernment  that  refuses  to  recognize  it. 

In  examining  the  operation  of  the  Executive  proclamation 
on  the  existence  of  slavery,  Mr.  Davis  asked,  how  does  it 
accomplish  the  reorganization  of  the  government  on  the  basis 
of  universal  freedom  ?  and  added : 

The  only  prescription  is  that  the  government  shall  not  contravene  the 
provisions  of  that  proclamation.  Sir,  if  that  proclamation  be  valid,  then 
we  are  relieved  from  all  trouble  on  that  score;  but  if  that  proclamation 
be  not  valid,  then  the  oath  to  support  it  is  without  legal  sanction,  for 
the  President  can  ask  no  man  to  bind  himself  by  an  oath  to  support  an 
unfounded  proclamation  or  an  unconstitutional  law  even  for  a  moment, 
still  less  till  it  shall  have  been  declared  void  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States.  ...  If,  therefore,  he  shall  have  taken  the  oath, 
he  can,  in  good  conscience  as  well  as  in  good  law,  disregard  it  the 
next  moment ;  so  that,  in  point  of  fact,  the  law  leaves  us  where  the 
proclamation  does ;  it  adds  nothing  to  its  legality,  nothing  to  its  force. 

But  what  is  the  proclamation  which  the  new  governments  must  not 
contravene?  That  certain  negroes  shall  be  free,  and  that  certain  other 
negroes  shall  remain  slaves.  The  proclamation  therefore  recognizes  the 
existence  of  slavery.  It  does  just  exactly  what  all  the  constitutions  of 
the  rebel  States  prior  to  the  rebellion  did;  .  .  .  and,  therefore,  the 
old  constitutions  might  be  restored  to-morrow  without  contravening  the 
proclamation  of  freedom.  Those  constitutions  do  not  say  that  the  Presi 
dent  shall  not  have  the  right,  in  the  exercise  of  his  military  authority, 
to  emancipate  slaves  within  the  States.  .  .  .  They  do  not  even 
establish  slavery.  .  .  .  They  merely  recognize  it  just  as  the  procla 
mation  recognizes  its  existence  in  parts  of  Virginia  and  in  parts  of 


234    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Louisiana.  So  that  the  one  tenth  of  the  population  at  whose  hands 
the  President  proposes  to  accept  and  guarantee  a  State  government, 
can  elect  officers  under  the  old  constitution  of  their  State  in  exactly  the 
same  terms  and  with  exactly  the  same  powers  existing  at  the  time  of  the 
rebellion,  and  may,  under  his  proclamation,  demand  a  recognition. 
•  •  .  So  soon  as  the  State  government  is  recognized,  the  operation 
of  the  proclamation  becomes  merely  a  judicial  question.  The  right  of  a 
negro  to  his  freedom  is  a  legal  right  divesting  a  right  of  property, 
and  is  to  be  enforced  in  the  courts;  and  then  the  question  is  what  the 
courts  will  say  about  the  proclamation.  Is  it  valid  or  invalid?  Does 
it  of  itself  confer  a  legal  right  to  freedom  on  negroes  who  were  slaves? 
Is  it  within  the  authority  of  the  Executive?  .  .  .  How  local  State 
courts,  created  by  the  Southern  people,  will  decide  such  a  question 
no  one  can  doubt.  ...  It  is,  therefore,  under  the  scheme  of  the 
President,  merely  a  judicial  question,  to  be  adjudged  by  judicial  rules,  and 
to  be  determined  by  the  courts.  ...  I  do  not  desire  to  argue  the 
legality  of  the  proclamation  of  freedom.  I  think  it  safer  to  make  it  law. 
.  .  .  Under  the  act  of  1862  the  President  is  authorized  to  use  the 
negro  population  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion ;  while  the  rebellion 
lasts,  his  proclamation  in  law  exempts  the  slave  from  the  duty  of  obey 
ing  his  master,  but  after  the  rebellion  is  extinguished,  the  master's  rights 
are  in  his  own  hands,  subject  only  to  the  opinion  of  the  courts  on  the 
legal  effect  of  the  proclamation,  without  a  single  precedent  to  sanction 
it,  and  opposed  by  the  solemn  assertions  of  our  Government  against  the 
principle  worked  to  authorize  it.  Gentlemen  are  less  prudent  or  less  in 
earnest  than  I  am  if  they  will  risk  the  great  issues  involved  in  this 
question  on  such  authorities  before  the  courts  of  justice. 

By  the  bill  we  propose  to  preclude  the  judicial  question  by  the  solu 
tion  of  a  political  question.  How  so?  By  the  paramount  power  of 
Congress  to  reorganize  governments  in  those  States,  to  impose  such  con 
ditions  as  it  thinks  necessary  to  secure  the  permanence  of  republican 
government,  to  refuse  to  recognize  any  governments  there  which  do 
not  prohibit  slavery  forever.  Ay,  gentlemen  take  the  responsibility  to 
say,  in  the  face  of  those  who  clamor  for  speedy  recognition  of  govern 
ments  tolerating  slavery,  that  the  safety  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  is  the  supreme  law;  that  their  will  is  the  supreme  rule  of  law, 
and  that  we  are  authorized  to  pronounce  their  will  on  this  subject  — 
take  the  responsibility  to  say  that  we  will  revise  the  judgments  of  our 
ancestors;  that  we  have  experience  written  in  blood  which  they  had 
not;  that  we  find  now,  what  they  darkly  doubted,  that  slavery  is  really, 
radically  inconsistent  with  the  permanence  of  republican  governments; 
and  that,  being  charged  by  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  on  our  con 
science  and  judgment,  to  guarantee,  that  is,  to  continue,  maintain,  and 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       235 

enforce,  if  it  exist,  to  institute  and  restore  when  overthrown,  republican 
governments  throughout  the  broad  limits  of  the  republic,  we  will  weed 
out  every  element  of  their  policy  which  we  think  incompatible  with  its 
permanence  and  endurance.  ...  It  [the  bill]  adds  to  the  authority 
of  the  proclamation  the  sanction  of  Congress.  .  .  . 

Gentlemen  must  deny  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress  over  the  States 
where  there  are  no  recognized  governments,  or  place  a  bound  or  limit 
to  the  discretion  of  Congress.  .  .  . 

And  if  the  sentiments  of  State  pride  and  State  rights  be  touched  by 
the  assertion  of  this  wide  discretion,  which  men  may  deny  but  cannot 
expunge,  I  would  admonish  those  who  dislike  it  that  it  is  a  jurisdiction 
which  nothing  but  the  dereliction  of  the  States  can  wake  into  activity, 
and  they  who  wish  to  exclude  it  from  their  limits  have  only  not  to  give 
occasion  for  its  exercise  by  renouncing  obedience  to  the  Constitution 
and  pulling  down  their  own  State  governments.  But  now  the  jurisdic 
tion  has  attached  in  all  the  rebel  States.  Until  Congress  has  assented, 
there  is  no  State  government  in  any  rebel  State,  and  none  will  be 
recognized  except  such  as  recognize  the  power  of  the  United  States;  so 
that  we  come  down  to  this :  whether  we  —  and  when  I  say  we,  I  mean 
we  upon  this  side  of  the  House,  who  are  firmly,  thoroughly,  and  hon 
estly  convinced  that  the  time  has  come  not  merely  to  strike  the  arms 
from  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  but  to  strike  the  fetters  from  the  arms  of 
the  slaves,  and  remove  that  domineering  and  cohesive  power  without 
which  we  could  have  had  no  rebellion,  and  which  now  is  its  animating 
spirit,  and  which  will  die  when  it  dies —  .  .  '. 

And  if  it  be  time  [for  Congress  to  assert  its  authority]  then  all  I  ask 
in  conclusion  is,  that  gentlemen  will  go  and  read  that  great  argument  of 
Daniel  Webster  in  the  Rhode  Island  case  .  .  .  where  he  met  this 
semi-revolutionary  attempt  to  count  heads  and  call  that  the  people,  and 
maintained  —  and  so  the  Supreme  Court  judged  when  it  refused  to  take 
jurisdiction  of  the  question  —  that  the  great  political  law  of  America  is 
that  every  change  of  government  shall  be  conducted  under  the  super 
vising  authority  of  some  existing  legislative  body  throwing  the  protec 
tion  of  law  around  the  polls,  defining  the  rights  of  voters,  protecting 
them  in  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise,  guarding  against  fraud, 
repelling  violence,  and  appointing  arbiters  to  pronounce  the  result  and 
declare  the  persons  chosen  by  the  people.  .  .  .  He  [Webster] 
maintained  it  to  be  the  great  fundamental  principle  of  the  American 
government  that  legislation  shall  guide  every  political  change,  and  that 
it  assumes  that  somewhere  within  the  United  States  there  is  always  a 
permanent,  organized  legal  authority  which  shall  guide  the  tottering  foot 
steps  of  those  who  seek  to  restore  governments  which  are  disorganized 
and  broken  down. 


236    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  bill,  he  asserted  in  conclusion,  was  an  effort  to  apply 
this  great  principle  of  American  law.1 

Representative  Scofield,  of  Pennsylvania,  said,  April  29, 
1864,  when  the  subject  was  again  before  the  House,  that  the 
continuity  of  constitutional  government  in  the  seceded  States 
had  been  broken,  the  regular  transmission  of  political  power 
interrupted.  How,  he  inquired,  should  the  severed  thread 
be  joined?  By  the  unconstrained  action  of  the  people  them 
selves,  say  the  gentlemen  in  opposition.  He  indorsed  that 
sentiment,  and  added  that  when  the  people  of  those  States 
should  ground  the  arms  of  their  rebellion,  and  uncoerced 
take  upon  themselves  the  easy  yoke  and  light  burden  of  the 
ever  gentle  Federal  Government  it  would  mark  a  glad  day  in 
those  uncheerful  years  of  our  history. 

For  those  States  from  which  hostile  armies  had  been  ex 
cluded  Congress  should  legislate  or  leave  the  people  in  the 
rough  hand  of  military  law.  The  bill  designed  to  discharge 
that  duty  was  generally  acceptable  to  any  one  who  conceded 
the  propriety  of  Congressional  action,  its  three  prohibitions 
being  probably  the  only  debatable  points, —  that  is  the  assump 
tion  of  Confederate  debts,  the  prevention  of  Confederate 
officers  from  voting  and  the  prohibition  of  involuntary  servi 
tude. 

To  assume  the  rebel  debt,  he  asserted,  would  be  to  offer  a 
high  bounty  for  future  rebellions;  if  rebel  officers  were  per 
mitted  to  vote,  upon  what  principle  of  comparative  justice 
could  the  privilege  be  denied  to  ordinary  criminals?  These 
officers  were  guilty  of  the  highest  crime  against  government. 
As  to  the  third  prohibition  he  had  more  to  say. 

"  If  God  shall  give  us  victory,"  continued  Mr.  Scofield, 
"  and  enable  us  to  subdue  or  scatter  the  army  of  the  enemy, 

1  Appendix,  Part  IV.,  Globe,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  82-85 ;  also  Speeches 
and  Addresses  of  Henry  Winter  Davis.  New  York :  Harper  &  Brothers, 
1867,  pp.  368-383. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       237 

is  a  voluntary  reunion  of  the  States  possible?  I  say  volun 
tary  because  I  suppose  nobody  desires  a  Union  always  to  be 
maintained  by  force;  and  I  use  the  word  reunion  because  no 
body  proposes  a  form  of  government  different  from  our  present 
system  of  State  brotherhood.  I  am  not  now  speaking  of  the 
several  plans  of  reconstruction,  for  they  are  designed  only 
as  temporary  devices,  looking  to  a  reunion.  .  .  .  My 
question  looks  beyond  the  battle  and  beyond  reconstruction. 
When  the  victory  is  won,  if  won  it  shall  be,  and  the  transition 
over,  will  the  insurgent  States  willingly  stay  where  they  have 
been  forcibly  put  in  their  old  places  in  the  old  Union  ?  .  .  . 
Our  own  liberties  could  not  survive  their  permanent  subjuga 
tion.  When  the  Federal  Government  becomes  strong  enough 
to  hold  eleven  States  as  colonies,  it  will  be  too  strong,  I  fear, 
for  the  people's  liberties."  All  motives  for  those  States  ever 
to  depart  should  be  removed. 

Similarity  of  ideas  he  characterized  as  the  bond  of  nation 
ality,  and  named  Ireland,  Hungary  and  Poland  to  show  the 
opposite.  In  the  United  States  slavery  was  the  one  subject 
of  estrangement.  Could  North  and  South  be  brought  to 
think  alike  on  that  subject?  The  theory  that  each  side  could 
hold  its  own  opinions  on  slavery  and  no  evil  consequences 
follow  was  somewhat  to  blame.  That  theory  failed  in  prac 
tice  and  for  that  failure  each  side  blamed  the  other. 

The  fathers,  he  said,  lived  under  that  theory,  that  slavery 
and  freedom  could  coexist,  but  they  expected  that  the  institu 
tion  would  soon  become  extinct.  Hence  they  only  tolerated 
it.  Slavery  was  to  recede  slowly  and  freedom  to  follow 
steadily.  Upon  that  basis  they  got  along  very  well  and  so 
could  their  descendants.  Instead  of  consenting  to  go,  slavery 
demanded  expansion  and  perpetuity.  This  was  reversing  the 
compromise  of  the  fathers;  this  change  had  to  be  discussed, 
the  slave  power  took  umbrage  and  secession  followed.  If  one 
sentiment  must  prevail,  then  slavery,  which  could  not  stand 


238    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

discussion,  must  yield  if  there  was  to  be  a  reunion.  To  live  in 
peace  together  the  North  must  embrace  slavery  or  the  South 
must  abandon  it. 

To  adopt  slavery  would  mean  the  adoption  by  20,000,000 
people  of  sentiments  favorable  thereto,  whereas  the  institution 
never  had  any  friends  in  the  North.  Those  in  that  section 
so  considered  were  only  its  apologists.  If,  three  years  ago, 
slavery  had  no  real  friends  in  the  North,  who  would  advocate 
it  when  it  had  attempted  to  destroy  the  most  beneficent  of 
governments  ?  To  reconcile  the  free  States  would  necessitate 
a  change  of  opinion  —  to  adopt  freedom  as  the  dominant  idea 
would  require  simply  a  change  of  investment  in  the  sections. 
For  the  present  extinguish  the  conflagration,  for  the  future 
remove  the  inflammable  material  from  which  it  was  kindled. 
For  -the  present  seize  the  mad  revolutionists  of  the 
South,  for  the  future  destroy  the  virus  that  poisoned  their 
blood. 

All  Who  favored  emancipation  he  favored  as  co-workers  for 
a  voluntary  and  peaceful  reunion  of  the  States;  slavery  was 
presented  merely  as  an  element  of  discord  and  disunion  and 
as  such  he  asked  for  its  removal.1 

Mr.  Williams  said  that  the  war  was  inaugurated  on  the 
theory  that  the  States  were  in,  whereas  the  great  fact  of  war 
was  a  proclamation  that  they  were  out.  Northern  Demo 
crats  were  willing  to  accept  the  fact  that  they  were  out,  with 
out  war  —  to  adopt  the  principle  of  the  laissez  nous  faire  of 
the  rebel  authorities  and  to  treat  with  them  upon  the  idea  of 
a  reconstruction;  peaceful  secession  with  reconstruction  by 
treaty.  The  severance  of  the  States  was  complete,  though  the 
hope  of  recovery  remained.  By  releasing  the  crews  of  their 
privateers,  by  blockading  their  ports  the  Federal  authorities 
had  recognized  them  as  a  de  facto  government;  Federal  leg 
islation  had  put  them  under  the  ban  as  alien  enemies.  In  the 
1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1970-1972. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       239 

minds  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  the  theory  of  an 
indissoluble  Union  referred  to  the  right,  to  its  organic  law. 
They  did  not  mean  that  it  could  not  be  ruptured  by  violence. 
If  the  governments  of  the  States  were  dissolved  "  they  must, 
of  course,  be  reconstructed  under  the  auspices  of  the  conquer 
ing  power,  and  that  not  by  the  Executive,  but  by  the  Legisla 
ture  of  the  Union,  whose  sword  he  bears,  and  which  only, 
consistently  with  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  the  past  prac 
tice  of  the  Government,  and  the  letter  as  well  as  spirit  of  the 
Constitution,  can  venture  to  determine  what  use  shall  be  made 
of  the  territories  conquered  by  it,  and  when  and  upon  what 
terms  they  shall  be  readmitted  into  full  communion  as  mem 
bers  of  this  Government.  .  .  .  To  permit  any  execu 
tive  officer  to  declare  its  law,  and  set  it  in  motion,  and  place 
it  under  the  control  of  a  minority  —  a  mere  tithe  of  its  citizens 
—  with  power  to  send  delegates  to  Congress  with  representa 
tion  unimpaired  and  unaffected  —  even  though  he  should  re- 
enact  a  part  of  its  abrogated  Constitution  —  would  be,  as  I 
think,  a  monstrous  anomaly,  a  violation  of  fundamental  prin 
ciples,  and  a  precedent  fraught  with  great  danger  to  republi 
can  liberty.  ...  To  come  back  into  the  Union,  it 
must  either  be  born  anew  or  come  back  with  all  its  rights  un 
impaired,  -except  those  material  ones  which  have  been  de 
stroyed  in  the  progress  of  the  war.  There  is,  I  think,  no 
middle  ground,  as  there  is  no  power  either  here  or  elsewhere 
to  prescribe  terms  which  shall  abridge  the  rights  or  privileges 
of  a  State  that  has  not  been  out  of  the  Union,  or  returns  to  it 
in  virtue  of  its  original  title."  The  rebellious  States,  he  de 
clared,  "  are  in  the  Union  for  correction,  not  for  heirship" 
In  point  of  fact  they  were  out. 

Replying  to  an  observation  of  Fernando  Wood,  Mr.  Wil 
liams  said :  "  We  are  in  favor,  at  all  events,  of  preserving  all 
that  is  left  of  it  [the  Union],  and  intend,  with  the  blessing  of 
God,  to  win  back  the  residue,  and  pass  it  through  the  fire  until 


240    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

it  shall  come  out  purged  of  the  malignant  element  that  has 
unfitted  it  for  freedom. 

"  .  .  .  Say  that  they  [the  rebellious  States]  are  in 
the  Union  as  before,  and  all  your  sacrifices  have  been  idle, 
and  all  the  blood  spilled  by  you  has  sunk  into  the  earth  in 


vain." 


The  confiscation  and  distribution  of  the  great  baronial  pos 
sessions  of  rebel  leaders  were  in  his  judgment  an  essential 
element  in  any  feasible  plan  of  reconstruction.  He  deduced 
from  passages  in  Bynkershoek  and  Barbeyrac  that  "  every 
thing  belonging  to  the  offending  party  is  confiscated.  .  »  « 
Indemnity,  security,  and  punishment  are  all,  therefore,  means 
of  self-defense  which  may  be  legitimately  used." 

Is  the  forfeiture,  he  asked,  of  the  estates  and  property  of 
traitors,  whether  they  consist  of  lands  or  slaves,  required  for 
these  purposes  ?  "  Vac  Victis  "  is  not  the  maxim  of  a  hu 
mane  conqueror.  Though  he  would  not  exclude  the  idea  of 
mercy,  he  was  not  clear  as  to  "  the  wisdom  of  a  proclamation 
of  amnesty  in  advance  as  a  measure  of  pacification,  without 
limits  as  to  time,  and  where  submission  after  conquest,  and 
when  it  is  no  longer  a  virtue  but  a  necessity,  is  to  be  rewarded 
with  the  same  impunity  as  a  voluntary  return  to  duty  before 
that  time." 

Speaking  of  the  nature,  cause  and  fury  of  the  war,  he  con 
tinued  :  "  Its  suppression  has  become  impossible  without  re 
moving  the  cause  of  the  strife,  and  disabling  our  enemy  by 
liberating  his  slaves,  and  arming  them  against  him." 

No  reparation  was  adequate  for  the  injury  inflicted;  for, 
said  he,  "  there  can  be  no  punishment,  except  in  the  divestiture 
of  the  rights  and  the  seizure  of  the  estates  of  the  guilty  lead 
ers.  There  is  no  security  except  in  the  distribution  of  the 
latter."  From  these  he  would  carve  out  inheritances  for  the 
widow  and  the  helpless  offspring  of  the  Northern  soldier. 

For  eighteen  months,  he  observed  in  conclusion,  the  war 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       241 

was  conducted  upon  the  principle  of  inflicting  as  little  injury 
as  possible  upon  the  enemy.1 

The  speech  of  Mr.  Williams  was  marked  by  considerable 
fluency  as  well  as  great  elegance  of  diction;  it  was  the  effort 
of  a  scholar,  though  not  confined  strictly  to  the  question  be 
fore  the  House.  He  introduced  with  directness  and  vigor 
the  ideas  of  indemnity,  security  and  punishment;  these,  it 
may  be  remarked,  became  important  elements  in  determining 
the  mode  of  reinstatement  that  finally  emerged  from  the  chaos 
of  resolutions  and  plans  submitted  to  Congress. 

Representative  Baldwin,  of  Michigan,  believed  the  bill  "  to 
be  an  utter  subversion  of  the  Constitution  " ;  even  a  latitudi- 
narian  construction  of  that  instrument  would  not  justify  it. 
It  embraced  a  plan  that  could  be  enforced  by  only  the  military 
arm.  It  was  the  precursor  of  the  establishment  of  a  despot 
ism.  That  measure,  as  well  as  the  President's  plan,  was 
fraught  with  danger. 

He  lamented  interference  with  the  elective  franchise  and 
the  denial  of  the  privileges  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  For 
eighteen  months  the  war  had  been  waged  for  the  destruction 
of  the  South,  not  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union.  Did  not 
wisdom,  he  asked,  suggest  that  all  plans  of  reconstruction 
which  tended  only  to  intensify  hate  and  postpone  the  day  of 
peace  be  abandoned?  Speaking  of  the  effect  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  policy  he  observed :  "  That  it  was  intended  that  the 
amnesty  proclamation  of  last  December  would  hasten  the  end 
of  this  strife,  I  do  not  believe.  We  are  told  that  nearly  every 
Southern  paper  published  it,  and  it  only  nerved  them  to  the 
performance  of  more  earnest  deeds."  The  President's  plan 
as  well  as  that  of  Congress,  he  believed,  were  designed  to  per 
petuate  the  present  dominant  party  by  the  vote  of  recon 
structed  States.  A  considerable  portion  of  his  remarks  was 
devoted  to  criticism  of  the  Administration.2 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1974-1981.    a  Ibid.,  pp.  1981-1983. 


LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Mr.  Thayer,  of  Pennsylvania,  believed  that  the  powers 
delegated  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  the  national 
Government  were  sufficient  for  the  great  work  of  reconstruc 
tion,  and  added :  "  That  the  time  has  come  in  which  Con 
gress,  in  the  exercise  of  the  great  powers  conferred  upon  it, 
should  settle  and  authoritatively  declare  the  terms  and  con 
ditions  upon  which  the  people  of  the  rebellious  districts  should 
be  restored  to  their  State  privileges  and  resume  their  just 
relations  to  the  national  Government,  does  not  admit  of 
doubt."  People  occupying  territory  wrested  from  the  rebel 
lion  should  be  restored  with  the  least  possible  delay  to  the 
privileges  of  representative  government.  "  Congress  alone 
can  enact  the  laws  which  are  to  reconstruct  the  political  so 
cieties  in  which  the  fundamental  principle  of  loyalty  to  the 
national  Government  and  obedience  to  its  laws  and  respect 
for  its  authority  have  been  obliterated  by  the  violence  of  re 
bellion.  The  President  of  the  United  States  cannot  enact 
these  laws,  and  it  is  in  my  opinion  a  reproach  to  Congress  that 
by  its  inaction  up  to  the  present  time  it  has  rendered  it  neces 
sary  that  the  national  Executive  should  be  obliged  by  a  sense 
of  obligation  to  the  public  welfare  to  resort  to  temporary  ex 
pedients  for  the  preservation  of  public  order  and  the  asser 
tion  of  national  supremacy  in  those  districts  and  States  which 
the  valor  of  our  soldiers  has  redeemed  from  the  insulting 
domination  of  the  rebel  army." 

Executive  action,  he  asserted,  was  suggested  by  necessity. 
"  What  has  been  done  in  that  respect  by  the  President  I  be 
lieve  to  have  been  well  done,  wisely  done,  and  patriotically 
done,  and  to  have  been  demanded  alike  by  the  necessity 
of  the  case  and  for  the  welfare  of  the  Republic."  The  ex 
clusive  right  over  the  subject,  however,  belonged  to  Congress, 
which  should  relieve  the  President  of  all  responsibility  therein. 

Safeguards  against  the  recurrence  of  similar  outbreaks  in 
the  future  should  be  required.  He  would  support  the  meas- 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       243 

ure  before  the  House  because  of  these  safeguards  or  pledges. 
Unconditional  and  perpetual  loyalty  in  the  new  governments 
in  the  rebellious  States  to  that  of  the  United  States,  extirpa 
tion  and  perpetual  prohibition  of  slavery  and  compulsory 
repudiation  of  the  rebel  debt  were  the  chief  among  these. 

"  The  safety  of  the  country, "  said  he,  "  its  future  repose, 
the  continuance  of  the  Union,  and  the  firm  establishment  of 
our  political  system  imperatively  demand  that  in  the  reor 
ganization  of  local  governments  in  the  rebel  States  the  founda 
tions  of  such  governments  must  rest  upon  the  principle  of  sub 
mission  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of-  the  United  States. 

"...  It  is  also  necessary  to  guard  the  elective 
franchise  and  the  privilege  of  holding  office  in  those  States 
against  the  intrusion  and  treachery  of  all  who  have  in  any 
sense  been  leaders  in  the  present  rebellion.  For  this  purpose 
prudence  requires  that  all  who  have  held  office  under  the 
pretended  rebel  government  should  be  excluded  from  these 
privileges." 

The  seventh  section  of  the  bill  he  would  like  to  see  so  modi 
fied  as  to  declare  that  no  debt  of  the  pretended  Confederate 
States,  and  no  debt  contracted  by  the  State  for  the  purpose  of 
prosecuting  the  war  against  the  United  States  or  of  giving 
aid  to  its  enemies,  should  be  recognized  or  paid  by  the  State. 

It  was  a  singular  doctrine,  he  remarked  in  conclusion,  that 
those  who  had  thrown  off  all  restraints  of  the  Constitution 
and  who  for  years  had  waged  war  for  the  purpose  of  over 
throwing  it  should  be  entitled  to  demand  its  protection  while 
engaged  in  armed  hostility  to  it.1 

Mr.  Yeaman  did  not  believe  Congress  had  a  right  to  legis 
late  away  the  laws  and  institutions  of  these  States.  The 
American  people,  he  said,  would  come  out  of  the  contest  with 
a  better  political  education,  an  education  having  for  its  basis 
the  idea  that  they  are  a  nation,  and  he  added,  "  a  war  to 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  2002-2006. 


244    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

enforce  the  theory  of  secession  will  end  in  an  increased  con 
solidated  nationality."  The  theory  expressed  in  the  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  Resolutions  was  the  fatal  blow  in  our  political 
history.  His  address  was  in  the  nature  of  an  essay  in  politi 
cal  science  and  not  altogether  germane  to  the  measure  under 
consideration.  * 

"  Pass  a  judicious  enabling  act,"  urged  Mr.  Longyear, 
"  with  proper  safeguards,  of  which  the  people  may  avail 
themselves  to  organize  civil  governments  at  the  very  earliest 
opportunity,  and  it  will  afford  a  rallying  point  for  the  Union 
sentiment  remaining  there,  and  tend  to  foster  it  and  nourish 
it  into  a  healthful  and  vigorous  existence.  It  will  prevent 
perplexing  and  complicated  irregularities  and  diversities  of 
action,  and  tend  largely  to  harmony  and  strength  in  our  future 
deliberations.  No  stronger  illustration  of  the  necessity  and 
propriety  of  immediate  action  need  be  given  than  the  case  of 
Tennessee,  Louisiana,  and  Arkansas. 

"  The  President's  proclamation  does  not  solve  the  diffi 
culty.  As  a  proclamation  of  amnesty,  as  a  general  outline 
or  plan  for  organizing  new  State  governments,  as  a  prescrip 
tion  of  safeguards  and  conditions  precedent  to  such  organiza 
tion,  it  will  ever  stand  as  a  bright  and  glorious  page  in  the 
history  of  the  present  Administration.  But  it  is  incomplete 
for  lack  of  constitutional  power.  That  can  be  conferred  by 
Congress  alone,  under  the  power  to  admit  new  States. 

"  If  we  succeed  [in  the  war]  we  make  no  conquest  of  terri 
tory,  because  that  is  already  ours.  We  simply  succeed,  in 
that  respect,  in  bringing  that  which  is  our  own  again  under 
our  control."  Because  of  rebellion  the  constitutions  and  laws 
of  those  States  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  as  slavery  was  estab 
lished  solely  in  State  laws  that  also  ceased  to  exist.  The  only 
object  of  a  constitutional  amendment  was  to  prohibit  its  es- 
1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  2008. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN        245 

tablishment  forever.  Freedom,  he  added,  was  being  substi 
tuted  for  slavery.  In  respect  to  slavery  and  the  slave  power 
we  were  in  the  midst  of  a  revolution.  They  proved  them 
selves  inimical  to  civil  liberty,  to  the  Constitution  and  to  re 
publican  institutions.1 

To  the  remark  of  Fernando  Wood,  of  New  York,  that 
the  South  could  not  be  subdued,  Ignatius  Donnelly  replied, 
"We  are  doing  it!"  and  he  added,  if  the  system  of  the 
President  is  deficient  in  the  machinery  that  will  ensure 
safety  "  it  is  our  duty  to  supply  that  defect.  The  plan  of 
the  President,  unsupported  by  any  action  on  our  part,  hangs 
upon  too  many  contingencies.  It  may  be  repealed  by  his 
successor;  it  may  be  resisted  by  Congress;  it  may  be  an 
nulled  by  the  Supreme  Court.  It  rests  the  welfare  of  the 
nation  upon  the  mind  of  one  man;  it  rests  the  whole  struc 
ture  of  social  order  upon  the  unstable  foundation  of  indi 
vidual  oaths."  Upon  this  subject  Mr.  Donnelly  observed 
that  General  Jefferson  Thompson,  C.  S.  A.,  noted  in 
passing  through  those  regions  that  men  consulted  their 
memorandum  books  to  see  what  oath  they  had  taken  last. 
Thousands  of  rebel  dead  had  been  found  on  the'  battle  field 
with  oaths  of  allegiance,  sworn  to  and  subscribed,  in  their 
pockets.  Mr.  Donnelly  favored  the  bill,  and  if  any  measure 
of  greater  security  could  be  found  he  would  support  that. 
He  desired,  as  soon  as  it  could  be  attained,  an  amendment  of 
the  Constitution  that  would  prohibit  slavery. 

"  I  am  aware,  Mr.  Speaker,"  he  continued,  "  of  the  great 
claims  which  Mr.  Lincoln  has  upon  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  I  recognize  that  popularity  which  accompanies  him, 
and  which,  considering  the  ordeal  through  which  he  has 
passed,  is  little  less  than  miraculous.  I  recognize  that  un 
questioning  faith  in  his  honesty  and  ability  which  pervades 
all  classes,  and  the  sincere  affection  with  which  almost  the 
1  Globe,  Part  III.,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  2011-2014. 


246    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

entire  population  regard  him.  We  must  not  underrate  him 
even  in  our  praises.  He  is  a  great  man.  Great  not  after  the 
old  models  of  the  world,  but  with  a  homely  and  original  great 
ness.  He  will  stand  out  to  future  ages  in  the  history  of  these 
crowded  and  confused  times  with  wonderful  distinctness.  He 
has  carried  a  vast  and  discordant  population  safely  and  peace 
fully  through  the  greatest  of  political  revolutions  with  such 
consummate  sagacity  and  skill  that  while  he  led  he  appeared 
to  follow;  while  he  innovated  beyond  all  precedent  he  has 
been  denounced  as  tardy;  while  he  struck  the  shackles  from 
the  limbs  of  three  million  slaves  he  has  been  hailed  as  a  con 
servative!  If  to  adapt,  persistently  and  continuously,  just 
and  righteous  principles  to  all  the  perplexed  windings  and 
changes  of  human  events,  and  to  secure  in  the  end  the  com 
plete  triumph  of  those  principles,  be  statesmanship,  then 
Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  first  of  statesmen. 

"  If  the  end  of  the  war  is  to  be  a  restoration  of  the  appear 
ance  of  the  old  Government;  a  patching  together  of  the 
broken  shreds  and  fragments;  a  propping  up  of  the  fabric  in 
such  style  that  the  next  Administration  may  possibly  get  out 
from  under  it  before  it  falls,  then  that  proclamation  may  be 
found  all-sufficient.  But  for  all  other  purposes  it  will  be 
utterly  unavailing.  It  does  not  reach  the  heart  of  the  dis 
temper.  .  .  . 

"  We  owe  more  than  this  to  ourselves;  we  owe  more  than 
this  to  the  South.  We  must  regenerate  the  South."  1 

This  discriminating  tribute  to  the  character  and  genius  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  paid  by  no  servile  flatterer;  it  was  not  the 
eulogy  of  even  a  supporter  of  the  Presidential  plan  of  recon 
struction  ;  nor  was  it  designed  as  a  discharge  of,  or  uttered  in 
expectation  of  compelling,  Executive  favors,  but  appears  rather 
to  have  been  the  spontaneous  testimony  of  a  keen  interpreter  of 
men  and  measures  not  less  creditable  to  the  insight  of  the 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  2038. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       247 

speaker  than  to  the  subject  of  his  remarks.  Others,  it  is  true, 
refrained  from  misrepresenting  the  President's  attitude  and 
cheerfully  ascribed  to  him  patriotic  and  enlightened  motives  in 
his  public  conduct.  Mr.  Donnelly  alone  condensed  into  a 
paragraph  a  panegyric  with  which  the  judgment  of  posterity 
is  in  complete  accord.  This  portion  of  his  speech  is  quoted 
both  to  show  that  there  were  men  in  Congress  who  fully 
appreciated  the  greatness  of  the  President,  and  that  criticism 
of  his  measures  was  not  in  many  instances  suggested  by  feel 
ings  of  personal  hostility. 

Very  different  were  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Dennison,  who  de 
clared  that  "  The  passage  of  this  law  will  be  the  final  gather 
ing  up  of  the  reserved  rights  of  States,  and  the  last  vestige 
of  protection  of  the  citizen  under  State  constitutions  will  be 
taken  away,  and  all  power  centralized  in  the  General  Govern 
ment."  He  opposed  the  bill  for  the  additional  reason  that  it 
was  intended  to  legalize  and  perpetuate  the  unconstitutional 
acts  of  the  President.  "  There  does  not  exist  on  the  earth  a 
more  despotic  government  than  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
He  is  a  despot  in  fact  if  not  in  name."  1  These  excerpts 
sufficiently  indicate  the  character  of  his  invective. 

"  I  have  offered  a  substitute  to  the  bill  of  the  committee/' 
said  Thaddeus  Stevens,  "  because  that  does  not,  in  my  judg 
ment,  meet  the  evil.  It  partially  acknowledges  the  rebel 
States  to  have  rights  under  the  Constitution,  which  I  deny, 
as  war  has  abrogated  them  all.  I  do  not  inquire  what  rights 
we  have  under  it,  but  they  have  none.  The  bill  takes  for 
granted  that  the  President  may  partially  interfere  in  their  civil 
administration,  not  as  conqueror  but  as  President  of  the 
United  States.  It  adopts  in  some  measure  the  idea  that  less 
than  a  majority  may  regulate  to  some  extent  the  affairs  of  a 
republic."2  The  chief  objection  of  Mr.  Stevens,  however, 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  2039-2041. 
1  Ibid.  p.  2041. 


248     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

was  that  it  removed  the  opportunity  of  confiscating  the  prop 
erty  of  the  disloyal. 

Representative  Wadsworth,  of  Kentucky,  he  said,  agreed 
with  him  that  the  people  of  the  South  could  plead  none  of  the 
constitutional  provisions  in  their  defence.  Whatever  rights 
they  possessed  were  those  of  belligerents  engaged  in  war. 
"  When  we  come  to  enforce  the  rights  of  conquest/'  con 
tinued  the  Pennsylvania  member,  "  we  should  be  justified 
in  insisting  upon  the  extreme  rights  of  war,  without  yield 
ing  to  the  mitigations  dictated  by  modern  usage  with  re 
gard  to  belligerents  originally  composed  of  foreign  nations 
engaged  in  war  which  they  deemed  just."  Explaining 
former  recommendations  which  in  many  quarters  had  called 
forth  severe  criticism,  he  said :  "  I  thought  that  the  women 
and  children,  the  non-combatants,  and  those  who  were 
forced  by  the  laws  of  their  State  into  the  armies,  should 
be  spared;  and  the  property  of  the  guilty,  morally  as  well  as 
politically  guilty,  only  should  be  taken.  And  yet  we  hear  a 
howl  of  horror  from  conservative  gentlemen  at  the  inhumanity 
of  the  proposition."  He  still  further  explained  his  sentiments 
on  this  occasion.  After  stating  that  the  people  of  the  Con 
federate  States  were  sovereign  and  acted  through  their  rep 
resentatives,  he  asserted  that  they  had  commenced  and  were 
continuing  to  wage  an  unjust  war  and  therefore  their  private 
property  was  liable  to  confiscation.  The  right  to  take  their 
property  existed,  but  no  one,  he  said,  "  advises  the  execution 
of  the  extreme  right.  But  the  right  exists  and  ought  to  be 
enforced  against  the  most  guilty.  To  allow  them  to  return 
with  their  estates  untouched,  on  the  theory  that  they  have 
never  gone  out  of  the  Union,  seems  to  me  rank  injustice  to 
loyal  men."  Of  those  who  denied  that  the  Confederate  States 
had  gone  out  of  the  Union  he  inquired,  "  What  are  we  mak 
ing  war  upon  them  for?  For  seceding;  for  going  out  of 
the  Union  against  law.  The  law  forbids  a  man  to  rob  or 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN        249 

murder,  and  yet  robbery  and  murder  exist  de  facto  but  not 
de  jure."  Hence  the  Constitution  does  not  allow  the  States 
to  go  out  of  the  Union.  He  referred  also  in  his  speech  to  a 
resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Schenck,  of  Ohio,  which  passed 
the  House  without  a  division  and  declared  the  Confederate 
States  a  public  enemy,  engaged  in  a  public  war.1 

On  the  same  day,  May  2,  Representative  Strouse  remarked 
that  immediately  after  the  disaster  of  Bull  Run  the  House 
almost  unanimously  passed  the  Crittenden  Resolutions,  which 
declared  that  "  This  war  is  not  waged  in  any  spirit  of  oppres 
sion,  or  for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  or  pur 
pose  of  overthrowing  or  interfering  with  the  rights  or  estab 
lished  institutions  of  these  States."  This  announcement,  he 
asserted,  brought  volunteers,  whereas  now,  1864,  county,  State 
and  Federal  bounties  combined  could  not  induce  men  to  enlist, 
and  the  cause  of  the  apathy  was  that  the  war  had  been  per 
verted  from  the  purpose  announced  in  the  resolutions  referred 
to.  The  entire  speech  had  little  reference  to  the  bill  of  Mr. 
Davis,  but  seemed  rather  designed,  by  an  attack  on  the  Ad 
ministration,  to  please  his  Democratic  constituents.2 

Mr.  Cravens  said  that  the  dominant  party  did  not  dis 
tinguish  between  loyalty  to  the  Administration  and  loyalty 
to  the  Government.  The  time  for  compromise  had  passed 
when  the  Republican  party  refused  to  accept  the  Crittenden 
Resolutions.  That  organization  was  in  all  essentials  an 
abolition  party.  If  there  ever  was  a  distinction  it  no  longer 
existed.  He  cited  a  rather  complete  list  of  all  the  measures 
acted  upon  by  Congress  showing  their  concern  for  the  negro ; 
he  charged  neglect  of  the  white  soldier,  his  widow  and  or 
phans;  quoted  from  the  speech  of  Thaddeus  Stevens  on  the 
admission  of  West  Virginia,  and  named  Representative  Julian 
as  uttering  sentiments  little  behind  the  Pennsylvania  member 

1  Globe,  Part  III,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  2041-2042. 
'Ibid.,  p.  2043. 


25o    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

in  boldness  and  exhibiting  no  more  reverence  for  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  incapacity  and  dire  wickedness  of  the  President 
and  his  "  courtiers  "  came  in  for  a  share  of  criticism. 

Mr.  Gooch  on  the  following  day,  May  3,  remarked  that  the 
rebellion  was  but  the  military  phase  of  the  conflict  of  ideas 
which  began  with  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  "  When 
we  shall  have  crushed  the  rebellion  and  restored  peace  to  all 
parts  of  the  country  we  shall  hold  this  territory,  not  by  a 
new  title,  but  by  the  old,  not  as  territory  acquired  by  con 
quest,  but  territory  defended  and  maintained  against  revolt. 
.  .  .  I  can  see  no  reason  why  the  President,  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  should  not,  in  the  meantime,  so  use  the 
military  power  as  to  aid  and  assist  the  loyal  people  of  any 
one  of  these  States  in  the  organization  of  a  loyal  State  gov 
ernment.  '.; •-..  i  .  All  these  acts  by  the  President,  or  the 
military  power  under  him,  in  thus  aiding  and  assisting  the 
loyal  people  in  these  States,  impose  no  obligation  upon  Con 
gress  to  recognize  them  until  such  time  as  it  shall  deem  proper 
to  do  so,  and  any  recognition  the  military  power  may  see  fit 
to  give  to  these  governments  can  never  fix  their  status  in  the 
Union.  Congress  alone  has  the  power  to  determine  what 
government  is  the  legitimate  one  in  a  State,  and  its  decision 
is  binding  on  the  other  departments  of  the  Government.1 

Mr.  Perry,  of  New  Jersey,  spoke  of  the  duration  of  the 
war,  predicted  the  general  bankruptcy  which  its  great  ex 
pense  would  bring  about,  and  calculated  that  in  eleven  years 
the  cost  of  the  war  would  equal  the  assessed  value  of  prop 
erty. 

Speaking  of  the  Executive  plan  he  said :  "  And  here  the 
President's  design  is  perfectly  evident,  to  secure  a  majority 
of  the  delegates  to  the  nominating  convention  of  his  party, 
and  to  provide  for  his  own  election  by  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  in  the  event  of  there  not  being  an  election  by  the 
1  Globe,  Part  III.,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  2071. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       251 

people.  By  this  plan  the  narrow  foothold  maintained  by  our 
armies  in  North  Carolina,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Alabama,  Flor 
ida,  Arkansas,  and  elsewhere  may  send  the  pretended  full 
delegations  of  those  States  to  this  House.  Mr.  Speaker,  I 
denominate  the  whole  plan  a  political  trick  worthy  of  the 
most  adroit  and  unscrupulous  wire-puller  of  our  ward  primary 
meetings."  The  State  governments  had  not  been  destroyed, 
he  added,  "  nor  can  they  be  destroyed  unless  the  rebels  are 
finally  victorious,  and  establish  their  independence."  1 

Fernando  Wood  said  that  Mexico  had  a  republican  form  of 
government,  and  that  Texas  came  into  the  Union  without 
changing  the  character  of  her  government  except  to  substitute 
a  governor  for  President  and  to  change  the  titles  of  some  of 
ficials.  Every  Southern  State  possessed  the  same  form  of  gov 
ernment  which  it  did  before  secession.  If,  he  asserted,  they 
were  then  republican  in  form,  "  they  are  so  now."  The  Con 
federate  constitution  had  all  the  elements  of  republicanism. 
The  bill  provided  that  hereafter  none  of  the  States  in  rebellion 
should  hold  slaves.  It  did  not  leave  to  the  people  the  right  to 
regulate  their  domestic  institutions.  Is  it  republicanism  to  take 
from  the  people  this  privilege?  "  To  impose  upon  them  a  form 
of  government  of  your  own  making,  under  the  pretext  of  this 
bill,  would  be  the  worst  kind  of  tyranny,  whatever  the  pro 
visions  of  your  constitution  might  be."2 

He  defended  himself  against  serious  charges  of  General 
Schenck,  whom  he  criticised  severely.  These  accusations, 
however,  were  reiterated  by  Hon.  William  D.  Kelley,  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  at  this  point  rose  to  speak  on  the  merits 
of  the  bill. 

The  proposed  measure  did  not  meet  his  unqualified  approval. 
It  lacked  some  of  the  amendments  suggested  by  Mr.  Stevens. 
"  I  should  like  to  see  his  distinct  declaration,"  said  Congress- 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  2073. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  2074. 


252    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

man  Kelley,  "  that  '  The  Confederate  States  are  a  public  en 
emy,  waging  an  unjust  war,  whose  injustice  is  so  glaring  that 
they  have  no  right  to  claim  the  mitigation  of  the  extreme 
rights  of  war  which  are  accorded  by  modern  usage  to  an 
enemy  who  has  the  right  to  consider  the  war  a  just  one.' ' 
He  would  like  to  see  the  bill  of  Mr.  Davis  provide  also  for 
the  exclusion  from  Congress  of  all  those  States  that  seceded, 
and  every  part  of  them. 

As  more  immediately  important,  however,  he  would  prefer 
to  see  included  in  the  measure  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Stevens 
respecting  amendments  of  the  Constitution;  he  denied  the 
immortality  of  a  State.  It  has  its  beginning,  its  transitions 
and  may  have  its  end.  "  A  State  may  be  killed,  a  State  may 
commit  suicide.  An  act  of  God,  by  destroying  its  inhab 
itants,  might  extinguish  a  State.  A  State  could  be  conquered 
and  held  by  some  strong  and  hostile  power.  The  political 
people  of  each  of  those  States  have  overthrown  the  State. 
Through  its  corporate  power  each  State  destroyed  its  cor 
porate  life,  and  no  one  of  them  exists."  He  also  denied  that 
a  State  could  transfer  to  any  foreign  power  territory  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States.  The  Supreme  Court 
had  decided  that  the  Southern  States  were  alien  enemies  and 
entitled  to  only  the  rights  of  such.1 

The  message  of  the  President,  Representative  S.  S.  Cox 
believed,  "  should  be  welcomed,  not  so  much  for  what  it  is 
as  for  what  it  pretends  to  be.  It  is  his  first  adventure  beyond 
the  line  of  force  into  the  field  of  conciliation.  .  .  . 

"  To  test  the  genuineness  of  this  amnesty :  five  months  have 
gone,  but  we  see  no  signs  of  thousands  of  Southern  citizens 
rushing  to  embrace  this  amnesty.  Indeed,  it  is  conceded  that 
the  rebellion  is  now  more  formidable  than  ever."  There  was 
no  genuine  movement  toward  the  restoration  of  the  seceded 
States.  He  would  not  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  swear 
1  Globe,  Part  III.,  i  Sess  38th  Cong.,  p.  2078. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       253 

support  of  the  negro  policies.  How  could  Southern  men  be 
expected  to  take  the  oath?  Its  terms  provoked  or  irritated 
them  still  more.  The  structure,  he  declared,  was  built  on  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation. 

The  bill  of  Mr.  Davis  had  the  same  defects.  That,  too,  was 
based  upon  the  one  tenth  system  and  the  policy  of  forced 
emancipation.  "  In  some  of  its  features,"  he  said,  "  it  is  an 
improvement  upon  the  rickety  establishment  proposed  by  the 
President. 

"...  The  emancipation  act  of  the  gentleman  [Lin 
coln]  can  never  be  reconciled  with  the  normal  control  of  the 
States  over  their  domestic  institutions,  so  all  oaths  to  sustain 
the  same  are  oaths  to  subvert  the  old  governments,  Federal 
and  State.  .  .  .  The  President's  plan,  therefore,  whether 
intended  or  not,  is  an  oath  to  encourage  treason,  and  the  plan 
of  the  gentleman  from  Maryland  is  a  plan  to  consummate 
revolution. 

"  ...  If  his  [the  President's]  plan  of  making  one 
tenth  rule  in  the  States  should  succeed,  then  he  will  have 
ready  at  hand  the  electoral  votes  of  Florida,  Arkansas,  Loui 
siana,  Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  and  other  States.  He  began 
this  business  in  Florida  the  other  day,  and  the  blood  which 
flowed  at  Olustee  is  the  result  of  this  scheme  of  personal  am 
bition  ! 


"  There  is  a  sort  of  odium  historicum"  proceeded  Mr.  Cox, 
"  attached  to  all  political  test  oaths.  .  .  .  They  have 
been  the  bane  and  foil  of  good  government  ever  since  bigotry 
began  and  revenge  ruled.  You  cannot  make  eight  million 
people,  nearly  all  in  revolt  at  what  they  regard  as  the  detest 
able  usurpations  of  abolition,  forswear  their  hatred  to  aboli 
tion.  You  force  by  this  oath  the  freed  negro  into  the  very 
nostrils  of  the  Southern  man,  whose  submission  to  law  you 
seek. 


254    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

"  The  conditions  of  pardon  only  inflame  but  do  not  quench 
rebellion.  .  .  * 

"  We  may  yet  change  the  war  from  the  diabolical  purposes 
of  those  in  power,  by  changing  that  power  to  other  hands,  and 
we  are  not  ready  to  sever  our  Union  while  that  hope  remains." 

Precedents  and  analogies  from  both  ancient  and  contem 
porary  history  were  cited  to  demonstrate  the  folly  of  attempt 
ing  to  hold  the  South  in  her  place  by  force.  These  together 
with  censure  of  the  Administration  and  criticism  of  the  domi 
nant  party  in  Congress  made  up  a  great  part  of  Mr.  Cox's 
very  long  speech.1 

Representative  Boutwell,  of  Massachusetts,  referring,  May 
4,  to  the  remarks  of  his  colleague,  Mr.  Ashley,  of  the  com 
mittee  which  reported  the  bill,  observed  that  "  since  this  rebel 
lion  opened  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress  commenced  its  exist 
ence  and  ceased  to  exist;  that  this  Congress  is  now  closing 
the  fifth  month  of  its  First  Session,  and  that  up  to  this  time  no 
efficient,  indeed  no  legislative  steps  whatever  have  been  taken 
by  which  the  Executive  is  to  be  guided  in  the  affairs  of  the 
people  occupying  the  territory  that  has  been  reclaimed  from 
rebel  domination.  Under  these  circumstances  I  think  it  due 
to  the  country  that  this  House,  at  least,  should  do  nothing 
which  conveys  any  reflection  upon  his  policy  unless  that  policy 
be  clearly  and  manifestly  in  contravention  of  the  Constitution 
or  of  the  well-ascertained  and  admitted  principles  of  the  Gov 
ernment." 

When  the  populous  parts  of  Louisiana  were  torn  from  rebel 
domination,  and  the  State  of  Arkansas  indicated  in  various 
ways  the  growth  of  a  sentiment  of  loyalty  and  returning 
allegiance  to  the  General  Government,  the  Executive  had  but 
one  of  three  courses  before  him :  either  to  be  silent,  to  govern 
by  military  authority  alone,  or  else  to  establish  a  civil  govern 
ment  or  at  least  to  take  initiatory  steps  toward  such  establish- 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  2095-2102. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       255 

ment.  "It  was  unquestionably  his  right  and  duty,  in  the 
absence  of  all  legislative  action,  to  govern  these  territories  as 
fast  and  as  far  as  they  were  reclaimed  by  military  power." 

He  defended  both  the  President  and  General  Banks,  who 
had  for  years  been  consistent  advocates  of  liberty.  He  then 
announced  himself  in  favor  of  the  bill  of  Mr.  Davis. 

"The  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Stevens],"  con 
tinued  Mr.  Boutwell,  "  maintains,  as  I  understand,  that  these 
States  are  out  of  the  Union;  that  their  territory  is  alien  terri 
tory,  and  that  we  are  making  war  against  alien  enemies.  I 
do  not  admit  either  of  these  positions  to  be  true.  I  feel  quite 
sure  that  these  eleven  once-existing  States  are  no  longer  States 
of  the  Union.  The  evidence  on  which  I  rely  in  support  of 
this  position  is  found  first  in  the  declaration  made  by  the  au 
thorities  of  those  States  that  they  no  longer  exist  as  States 
of  the  American  Union.  Next,  we  find  that  for  three  years 
and  more  they  have  been  resisting  the  authority  of  the  Gov 
ernment  and  have  been  carrying  on  a  war  against  it.  It  is 
absurd  to  say  that  States  or  people  are  a  part  of  the  Govern 
ment  under  the  Constitution,  and  entitled  to  constitutional 
rights  and  privileges,  when  they  have  been  carrying  on  war 
against  the  Government. 

•          ••••'.••• 

"  Nor  do  I  admit  that  the  people  in  the  rebellious  States  are 
aliens.  They  are  not  of  any  other  country,  they  are  not  of 
any  other  legal  jurisdiction,  they  are  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Union.  Three  years  ago  they  were  a  portion  of  this 
Union,  and  although  they  have  been  carrying  on  a  war,  that 
war  has  not  thus  far  been  successful,  their  independence  has 
not  been  acknowledged  by  us,  nor  has  it  been  recognized  by 
any  other  nation.  They,  therefore,  are  not  aliens.  They  are, 
to  be  sure,  public  enemies,  but  they  are  not  alien  enemies. 

.     .     .     These  States  as  political  organizations  have 
by  their  own  will  ceased  to  exist.     .     .     .     The  existence 


256    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  a  State  is  a  fact  within  the  control  of  the  people  themselves, 
and  cannot  be  influenced  by  any  extraneous  power  whatever, 
and  therefore  these  States  have  by  the  will  of  the  people 
thereof  as  political  organizations  ceased  to  exist." 

Admitting  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  had 
legal  jurisdiction  over  this  territory  and  over  the  people  who 
occupied  it,  it  was  an  absurdity,  he  declared,  "  to  say  that 
these  States  still  exist  and  that  the  people  there  may  without 
our  consent  elect  officers  and  send  Representatives  to  this  body 
and  Senators  to  the  other  branch  of  Congress." 

To  the  taunt  of  the  Democrats  that  the  war  had  been 
changed  from  a  war  to  restore  the  Union  to  one  for  the  pur 
pose  of  emancipating  the  slave,  Mr.  Boutwell  replied  by  a  denial 
of  the  fact,  but  added  that  even  if  it  were  so,  it  was  not  the 
first  instance  of  the  sort  in  human  history.  Up  to  1774  every 
American  expected  to  preserve  the  old  relations  with  England, 
yet  within  two  years  Independence  was  declared.  The  pend 
ing  measure,  he  asserted,  had  not  elicited  marked  attention  in 
Congress  nor  any  great  interest  throughout  the  country,  yet 
in  it  lay  the  germ  of  a  new  civilization  for  half  a  continent. 

The  limitation  of  the  elective  franchise  to  white  males  did 
not  meet  his  approval;  for  though  the  suffrage  <is  not  a 
natural,  it  is  the  highest  political,  right.  Where  the  suf 
frage  is  denied  to  any  large  number  of  men,  that  community  is 
never  free  from  the  danger  of  intestine  commotion. 

As  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  responsible  for  breath 
ing  into  slavery  the  breath  of  life  after  it  had  everywhere  been 
condemned,  he  would  not  have  them  again  reappear  in  the 
Union.  Florida  did  not  deserve  a  place  in  the  Union  and,  by 
giving  the  colored  men  local  suffrage  in  that  district,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia  and  Florida,  he  would  invite  the  blacks 
thither  as  fast  as  they  could  be  spared  from  the  industries  in 
which  they  were  elsewhere  engaged.  He  would  not  ask  to 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       257 

extend  this  principle  to  loyal  Northern  or  to  border  States 
with  a  negro  population.1 

Mr.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  made  by  far  the  ablest  Democratic 
argument  against  the  proposed  enactment.  Its  details  as  well 
as  its  general  policy,  he  said,  required  examination.  After 
stating  quite'  fully  the  provisions  of  the  bill,  he  continued : 

The  gentleman  from  Maryland  [Mr.  Davis]  facetiously  entitles  it  "a 
bill  to  guaranty  to  certain  States  whose  governments  have  been  usurped 
or  overthrown  a  republican  form  of  government." 

At  last  the  mask  has  been  thrown  off.  At  last  the  pretenses  have  all 
been  laid  aside.  Three  years  of  war  have  done  their  work,  and  the  pur 
poses  and  objects  of  the  Republican  party  have  been  at  last  acknowl 
edged.  This  bill  is  the  consummation  of  its  statesmanship  the  fruit  of 
its  experience,  the  demonstration  of  its  purposes.  The  gentleman  from 
Maryland  introduced  it;  it  is  understood  to  be  distasteful  to  some  of 
his  party  friends ;  but  it  is  a  party  measure ;  it  will  be  voted  for  by  every 
member  of  the  Republican  organization ;  it  marks  their  policy  of  restora 
tion  ;  it  defines  their  ideas  of  Union ;  it  interprets  their  construction  of  the 
Constitution.  As  such  I  accept  it.  We  have  had  double-dealing,  hypoc 
risy  and  fraud  for  the  last  three  years.  We  have  had  false  professions, 
false  names,  and  double-faced  measures.  We  have  had  armies  raised, 
taxes  collected,  battles  fought,  under  the  pretense  that  the  war  was  for 
the  Union,  the  old  Union,  the  Union  of  the  Constitution.  These  were 
the  catchwords  for  the  patriotic  people.  In  the  secret  council-chambers 
of  the  party  they  were  sneered  at  as  devices  with  which  to  ensnare  the 
innocent,  to  deceive  the  ignorant,  to  coax  the  obstinate.  They  were  to 
be  discarded  as  soon  as,  in  the  heat  of  war,  in  the  exasperation  of  pas 
sion,  in  the  exultation  of  victory,  or  in  the  bitterness  of  defeat  and  dis 
aster  and  oppression,  it  would  be  safe  to  divulge  the  great  conspiracy 
against  the  Union,  the  constitutional  confederation,  the  principles  of  free 
government. 

That  time  has  come.  The  veil  is  drawn  aside.  We  see  clearly.  The 
party  in  possession  of  the  powers  of  the  Government  is  revolutionary. 
It  seeks  to  use  those  powers  to  destroy  the  Government,  to  change  its 
form,  to  change  its  spirit.  It  seeks  under  the  forms  of  law  to  make  a 
new  Government,  a  new  Union,  to  ingraft  upon  it  new  principles,  new 
theories,  and  to  use  the  powers  of  the  law  against  all  who  will  not  be  per 
suaded.  It  is  in  rebellion  against  the  Constitution;  it  is  in  treasonable 
conspiracy  against  the  Government.  It  differs  in  nothing  from  the 


1  Globe,  Part  III.,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  2102-2105. 


258    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

armed  enemies  except  in  the  weapons  of  its  warfare.  They  fight  to  over 
throw  its  authority  over  them,  while  it  seeks  to  destroy  that  authority 
at  home.  They  would  curtail  the  limits  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal 
Government ;  it  would  extend  those  limits,  but  change  the  basis  and  prin 
ciples  upon  which  it  rests.  If  revolt  against  constituted  authority  be  a 
crime,  if  patriotism  consist  in  upholding  in  form  and  spirit  the  Govern 
ment  our  fathers  made,  those  in  power  here  to-day  are  as  guilty  as  those 
who  in  the  seceded  States  marshal  armed  men  for  the  contest. 

"  Revolutions  move  onward."  That  is  true.  But  call  things  by  their 
true  names.  Admit  you  are  in  revolution ;  admit  you  are  revolutionists ; 
admit  that  you  do  not  desire  to  restore  the  old  order ;  admit  that  you  do 
not  fight  to  restore  the  Union.  Take  the  responsibility  of  that  position. 
Avow  that  you  exercise  the  powers  of  the  Government  because  you 
control  them;  that  you  are  not  bound  by  the  Constitution,  but  by  your 
own  sense  of  right.  Avow  that  resistance  to  your  schemes  is  not  treason, 
but  war.  Dissolve  the  spell  which  you  have  woven  around  the  hearts 
of  our  people  by  the  cunning  use  of  the  words  conservatism,  patriotism, 
Union.  And  we  will  cease  all  criminations,  we  will  mish  all  reproaches 
for  oaths  violated,  pledges  falsified,  faith  betrayed.  We  will  meet  you 
on  your  own  ground,  we  will  fight  you  with  your  weapons,  and  by  the 
issue  of  that  contest,  whether  of  argument  or  of  arms,  we  will  abide. 

Am  I  to  be  told  that  I  misrepresent  the  Republican  party?  The  gen 
tleman  who  has  just  taken  his  seat  [Mr.  Boutwell],  an  able  and  honored 
member  of  that  party,  has  said  in  your  hearing,  "  If  I  could  direct  the 
force  of  public  sentiment  and  the  policy  of  this  Government,  South 
Carolina  as  a  State  and  with  a  name  should  never  re-appear  in  this 
Union.  Georgia  deserves  a  like  fate.  Florida  does  not  deserve  a  name 
in  this  Union." 

The  gentleman  from  Maryland  felt  that  this  charge  could  be  truthfully 
made.  He  sought  to  answer  it  in  advance.  He  denied  that  the  pro 
visions  of  the  bill  contravened  any  clause  of  the  Constitution.  Where 
is  the  authority  for  it?  Where  is  the  authority  to  declare  State  govern 
ments  overthrown?  Where  is  the  authority  to  reconstruct  them? 
Where  is  the  authority  to  appoint  a  governor;  to  call  a  convention  to 
remodel  their  constitutions;  to  fix  the  qualifications  of  its  members;  to 
prescribe  the  conditions  of  their  organic  law;  and  until  a  new  constitu 
tion  shall  be  made,  to  administer  by  Federal  officers  such  parts  of  the 
old  constitution  and  laws  as  the  governor,  or  the  President,  or  Congress 
may  select?  .  .  . 

At  this  point  he  quoted  Madison  on  the  guaranty  clause,  a 
subject  elaborated  in  the  Senate  by  Carlile,  of  Virginia.  Mr. 
Pendleton  observed  that  if  slavery,  which,  with  one  possible 
exception,  existed  in  all  the  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       259 

of  the  Constitution,  was  not  inconsistent  with  a  republican 
form  of  government  then  it  was  not  inconsistent  with  it  in 
1864. 

And  yet  the  advocates  of  this  bill  [continued  Mr.  Pendleton]  propose 
to  deprive  the  States  of  power  over  the  question  of  slavery,  power  over 
their  own  indebtedness,  power  to  regulate  the  elective  franchise,  and  the 
right  to  hold  office,  under  the  pretense  that  they  thereby  execute  the 
provision  that  the  United  States  must  guaranty  a  republican  form  of 
government  to  the  States. 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Boutwell]  has  shown  how  he 
would  execute  it.  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Florida  should  never 
again  appear  as  State [s]  or  in  name  in  this  Confederation.  Is  their 
exclusion  a  guarantee  to  them  of  a  republican  government? 

...  If  Congress  may  insist  upon  the  three  fundamental  conditions 
prescribed  in  this  bill,  ...  by  a  parity  of  reasoning  it  ought  to  in 
sist  upon  their  incorporation  into  the  constitution  of  the  States  remain 
ing  steadfast  by  the  Union.  If  they  are  essential  to  republicanism  in  the 
one  class  of  States  they  are  equally  so  in  all. 

.  .  .  Gentlemen  must  not  palter  in  a  double  sense.  These  acts  of 
secession  are  either  valid  or  they  are  invalid.  If  they  are  valid,  they 
separated  the  State  from  the  Union.  If  they  are  invalid,  they  are  void ; 
they  have  no  effect;  the  State  officers  who  act  upon  them  are  rebels  to 
the  Federal  Government;  the  States  are  not  destroyed;  their  consti 
tutions  are  not  abrogated;  their  officers  are  committing  illegal  acts, 
for  which  they  are  liable  to  punishment;  the  States  have  never  left  the 
Union,  but  so  soon  as  their  officers  shall  perform  their  duties  or  other 
officers  shall  assume  their  places,  will  again  perform  the  duties  imposed 
and  enjoy  the  privileges  conferred  by  the  Federal  compact,  and  this  not 
by  virtue  of  a  new  ratification  of  the  Constitution,  nor  a  new  admission 
by  the  Federal  Government,  but  by  virtue  of  the  original  ratification,  and 
the  constant,  uninterrupted  maintenance  of  position  in  the  Federal  Union 
since  that  date. 

Acts  of  secession  are  not  invalid  to  destroy  the  Union,  and  valid  to 
destroy  the  State  governments  and  the  political  privileges  of  their  citi 
zens.  We  have  heard  much  of  the  two-fold  relation  which  citizens  of  the 
seceded  States  may  hold  to  the  Federal  Government  —  that  they  may  be 
at  once  belligerents  and  rebellious  citizens.  I  believe  there  are  some  ju 
dicial  decisions  to  that  effect.  Sir,  it  is  impossible.  The  Federal  Gov 
ernment  may  possibly  have  the  right  to  elect  in  which  relation  it  will  deal 
with  them ;  it  cannot  deal  with  them  at  one  and  the  same  time  in  incon 
sistent  relations.  Belligerents  being  captured  are  entitled  to  be  treated 


260    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

as  prisoners  of  war;  rebellious  citizens  are  liable  to  be  hanged.  The 
private  property  of  belligerents,  according  to  the  rules  of  modern  war, 
shall  not  be  taken  without  compensation ;  the  property  of  rebellious  citi 
zens  is  liable  to  confiscation.  Belligerents  are  not  amenable  to  the  local 
criminal  law,  nor  to  the  jurisdiction  of  courts  which  administer  it; 
rebellious  citizens  are,  and  the  officers  are  bound  to  enforce  the  law,  and 
to  exact  the  penalty  of  its  infraction.  The  seceded  States  are  either  in 
the  Union  or  out  of  it.  If  in  the  Union,  their  constitutions  are  un 
touched,  their  State  governments  are  maintained;  their  citizens  are 
entitled  to  all  political  rights,  except  so  far  as  they  may  be  deprived  of 
them  by  the  criminal  law  which  they  may  have  infracted.  This  seems 
incomprehensible  to  the  gentleman  from  Maryland.  In  his  view  the 
whole  State  government  centers  in  the  men  who  administer  it ;  so  that 
when  they  administer  it  unwisely,  or  put  it  in  antagonism  to  the  Federal 
Government,  the  State  government  is  dissolved,  the  State  constitution  is 
abrogated,  and  the  State  is  left,  in  fact  and  in  form,  de  jure  and  de  facto, 
in  anarchy,  except  so  far  as  the  Federal  Government  may  rightfully  in 
tervene.  This  seems  to  be  substantially  the  view  of  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  [Mr.  Boutwell].  He  enforces  the  same  position,  but  he 
does  not  use  the  same  language. 

.  .  .  If  by  a  plague  or  other  visitation  of  God  every  officer  of  a 
State  government  should  at  the  same  moment  die,  so  that  not  a  single 
person  clothed  with  official  power  should  remain,  would  the  State 
government  be  destroyed?  Not  at  all.  For  the  moment  it  would  not  be 
administered,  but  as  soon  as  officers  were  elected  and  assumed  their 
respective  duties  it  would  be  instantly  in  full  force  and  vigor. 

If  these  States  are  out  of  the  Union  their  State  governments  are  still 
in  force  unless  otherwise  changed.  And  their  citizens  are  to  the  Federal 
Government  as  foreigners,  and  it  has  in  relation  to  them  the  same  rights, 
and  none  other,  as  it  had  in  relation  to  British  subjects  in  the  war  of 
1812,  or  to  the  Mexicans  in  1846.  Whatever  may  be  the  true  relation  of 
the  seceded  States,  the  Federal  Government  derives  no  power  in  relation 
to  them  or  their  citizens  from  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  now 
under  consideration,  but  in  the  one  case  derives  all  its  power  from  the 
duty  of  enforcing  the  "  Supreme  law  of  the  land ;  "  and  in  the  other  from 
the  power  "  to  declare  war." 

The  gentleman  [Mr.  Davis]  states  his  case  too  strongly.  The  duty 
imposed  on  Congress  is  doubtless  important,  but  Congress  has  no  right 
to  use  a  means  of  performing  it  forbidden  by  the  Constitution,  no  matter 
how  necessary  or  proper  it  might  be  thought  to  be.  But,  sir,  this 
doctrine  is  monstrous.  It  has  no  foundation  in  the  Constitution.  It 
subjects  all  the  States  to  the  will  of  Congress;  it  places  their  institutions 
at  the  feet  of  Congress.  It  creates  in  Congress  an  absolute  unqualified 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN        261 

despotism.  It  asserts  the  power  of  Congress  in  changing  the  State  govern 
ments  to  be  "  plenary,  supreme  and  unlimited  "  —  "  subject  only  to  re 
vision  by  the  people  of  the  whole  United  States."  The  rights  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  State  are  nothing,  their  will  is  nothing.  Congress  first  decides, 
the  people  of  the  whole  Union  revise.  My  own  State  of  Ohio  is  liable  at 
any  moment  to  be  called  in  question  for  her  constitution.  She  does  not 
permit  negroes  to  vote.  .  .  .  From  that  decision  of  the  Congress 
there  is  no  appeal  to  the  people  of  Ohio,  but  only  to  the  people  of 
Massachusetts,  and  New  York,  and  Wisconsin,  at  the  election  of  Rep 
resentatives ;  and  if  a  majority  cannot  be  elected  to  reverse  the  decision, 
the  people  of  Ohio  must  submit.  Woe  be  to  the  day  when  that  doctrine 
shall  be  established,  for  from  its  centralized  despotism  we  will  appeal  to 
the  sword! 

The  rights  of  the  States,  he  said  in  conclusion,  had  recon 
ciled  liberty  with  empire,  the  freedom  of  the  individual  with 
increase  of  the  public  domain ;  by  the  proposed  measure  these 
were  all  swept  instantly  away.  It  substituted  "  despotism  for 
self-government;  despotism  the  more  severe  because  vested  in 
a  numerous  Congress  elected  by  a  people  who  may  not  feel 
the  exercise  of  its  power.  ...  It  maintains  integrity  of 
territory  but  destroys  the  rights  of  the  citizen."  Finally  he 
declared  that  he  preferred  separation  to  the  unity  which  the 
bill  would  create.1 

Debate  was  concluded  by  Henry  Winter  Davis,  who  rose 
for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  the  pending  measure  by  moving 
as  a  substitute  a  bill  essentially  the  same  as  that  under  con 
sideration  in  the  House;  from  that  plan,  however,  it  differed 
in  two  not  unimportant  particulars.  First,  it  excluded  what 
his  friend  Mr.  Cox  had  objected  to,  the  rule  of  one  tenth,  and 
required  a  majority  to  concur  in  forming  a  government.  The 
other  softened  the  operation  of  the  clause  excluding  officers 
of  the  State  and  Confederate  government,  by  saving  merely 
ministerial  officers  and  the  inferior  military  officers;  so  that 
the  exclusion  merely  affected  persons  of  dangerous  political 
influence.  By  an  arrangement  with  Thaddeus  Stevens,  in- 

1  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  2105-2107. 


i6i    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

stead  of  having  a  direct  vote  on  his  substitute,  a  portion  of  it 
was  proposed  as  a  preamble  to  this  bill,  which,  of  course, 
would  be  voted  on  separately  and  take  whatever  fate  the 
House  might  assign,  to  it.  With  these  observations  Mr. 
Davis  said,  "  I  offer  this  as  a  substitute,  and  move  the  pre 
vious  question  upon  it."  The  substitute  was  agreed  to,  and 
the  amendment  to  the  preamble  adopted,  the  preamble  itself 
being  rejected.  By  73  yeas  to  59  nays,  the  bill  passed  the 
House,  May  4,  I864.1 

This  important  measure  authorized  the  President,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  appoint  for  each 
of  the  States  declared  in  rebellion  a  provisional  governor,  with 
pay  and  emoluments  not  to  exceed  that  of  a  brigadier-general 
of  volunteers,  and  who  was  to  be  charged  with  the  civil  admin 
istration  of  such  State  until  a  government  was  recognized  as 
existing  therein.  As  soon  as  military  resistance  to  Federal 
authority  had  been  suppressed,  and  the  people  had  sufficiently 
returned  to  their  obedience  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws, 
it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  governor  to  direct  the  United 
States  marshal  to  enroll  all  white  male  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  resident  in  the  State,  in  their  respective  counties;  and 
wherever  a  majority  of  them  took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  the 
loyal  people  of  the  States  were,  by  proclamation,  to  be  in 
vited  by  the  governor  to  elect  delegates  to  a  convention  to  act 
upon  the  reestablishment  of  a  State  government,  the  proclama 
tion  to  prescribe  the  details  of  the  election.  Qualified  electors 
in  the  army  could  vote  at  the  headquarters  of  their  respective 
commands.  No  person  who  had  held  or  exercised  any  civil, 
military,  State  or  Confederate  office  under  the  rebel  occupa 
tion,  and  who  had  voluntarily  borne  arms  against  the  United 
States,  could  either  vote  or  be  eligible  as  a  delegate.  The  con 
vention  was  required  to  insert  in  the  constitution  the  follow 
ing  provisions : 

*  Globe,  Part  III.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  2108. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       263 

First.  No  person  who  has  held  or  exercised  any  office,  civil  or  mili 
tary,  except  offices  merely  ministerial  and  military  offices  below  colonel, 
State  or  Confederate,  under  the  usurping  power,  shall  vote  for  or  be  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  or  Governor. 

Second.  Involuntary  servitude  is  forever  prohibited,  and  the  freedom 
of  all  persons  is  guaranteed  in  said  State. 

Third.  No  debt,  State  or  Confederate,  created  by  or  under  the  sanction 
of  the  usurping  power,  shall  be  recognized  or  paid  by  the  State. 

Upon  the  adoption  of  such  a  constitution  by  the  con 
vention  and  its  ratification  by  the  voters  of  the  State  the  pro 
visional  governor  should  so  certify  to  the  President,  who, 
after  obtaining  the  assent  of  Congress,  was  empowered  by 
proclamation  to  recognize  the  government  so  established,  and 
none  other,  as  the  constitutional  government  of  the  State; 
from  the  date  of  such  recognition,  and  not  before,  Senators 
and  Representatives  as  well  as  electors  for  President  and 
Vice-President  could  be  legally  chosen  in  such  State.  Until 
reorganization  the  provisional  governor  was  to  enforce  the 
laws  of  the  Union,  and  of  the  State  before  rebellion. 

The  remaining  provisions  were  as  follows : 

Section  12  declared  that  "  all  persons  held  to  involuntary 
servitude  or  labor  in  the  States  referred  to,  are  emancipated 
and  discharged  therefrom,  and  they  and  their  posterity  are 
declared  to  be  forever  free.  And  if  any  such  persons  or  their 
posterity  shall  be  restrained  of  liberty,  under  pretense  of  any 
claim  to  such  service  or  labor,  the  courts  of  the  United  States 
shall,  on  habeas  corpus,  discharge  them." 

Section  13  provided  that  "  if  any  person  declared  free  by 
this  or  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or  any  proclamation  of 
the  President,  be  restrained  of  liberty,  with  intent  to  be  held 
in  or  reduced  to  involuntary  servitude  or  labor,  the  person  con 
victed  before  a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction  of  such  act 
shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  $1,500,  and  be 
imprisoned  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  twenty  years." 

By  section  14  it  was  declared  that  "  every  person  who  shall 


264    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

hereafter  hold  or  exercise  any  office,  civil  or  military,  except 
offices  merely  ministerial,  and  military  offices  below  the  grade 
of  colonel,  in  the  rebel  service,  State  or  Confederate,  is  de 
clared  not  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States."  * 

On  the  following  day  the  proposed  measure  came  up  in  the 
Senate,  was  read  twice  by  its  title  and  referred  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  Territories.  On  May  27  Mr.  Wade  reported  the 
bill  with  amendments,  and  on.  June  30  succeeding  moved  to 
postpone  all  prior  orders  and  proceed  to  its  consideration. 
His  motion,  however,  was  not  agreed  to,  and  it  was  not  till 
July  i,  when  the  session  was  drawing  rapidly  to  a  close,  that 
its  discussion  began.  To  save  time  the  amendments  proposed 
by  the  committee  were  voted  down.  Senator  Brown,  of  Mis 
souri,  believed  that  the  subject  of  reconstruction  could  and 
should  be  postponed  to  a  later  day,  and  offered  for  the  bill,  by 
way  of  amendment,  a  substitute  which  declared  incapable  of 
voting  "  for  electors  of  President  or  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  or  of  electing  Senators  or  Representatives  in 
Congress,"  until  the  rebellion  was  abandoned,  the  inhabitants 
of  all  those  States  hitherto  proclaimed  in  a  state  of  insurrec 
tion.  That  question  he  regarded  as  the  necessity  of  the  hour.2 

Mr.  Wade  hoped  this  amendment  would  not  prevail;  there 
was  nothing,  he  asserted,  in  the  argument  that  sufficient  time 
did  not  remain  for  its  careful  consideration,  because  it  was 
early  and  thoroughly  debated  in  the  House. and  had  been 
fully  discussed  by  the  Senate  Committee.  It  was  five  months 
on  their  desks  and  the  attention  of  Senators  had  often  been 
called  to  it.  On  Republicans  at  least  its  consideration  had 
frequently  been  urged  by  himself.  More  than  ordinary  care 
had  been  taken  in  this  matter,  and  if  the  bill  was  not  then 
understood  it  never  would  be. 

The  question  would  arise  in  the  ensuing  campaign.     Sen- 

1  Globe,  Part  IV.,  i  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  3448-3449. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  3449- 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       265 

ators,  he  said,  had  been  refused  admission  to  Congress,  and 
the  principles  on  which  they  would  be  received  should  be  de 
clared.  They  were  announced  in  the  bill  which  had  passed  the 
House.  It  protected  the  Government  against  Confederate 
sympathizers  and  guarded  the  interests  of  loyal  Southerners 
during  the  period  of  transition. 

The  status  of  the  seceded  States  was  a  question  upon  which 
men  differed  widely.  It  was  a  question  to  be  ascertained  and 
declared  by  Congress,  "  for  the  Executive  ought  not  to  be  per 
mitted  to  handle  this  great  question  to  his  own  liking.  It 
does  not  belong,  under  the  Constitution,  to  the  President  to 
prescribe  the  rule,  and  it  is  a  base  abandonment  of  our  own 
powers  and  our  own  duties  to  cast  this  great  principle  upon 
the  decision  of  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government. 
...  .:  ..,  I  know  very  well  that  the  President  from  the  best 
motives  undertook  to  fix  a  rule  upon  which  he  would  admit 
these  States  back  into  the  Union.  It  was  not  upon  any  prin 
ciple  of  republicanism;  it  would  not  have  guarantied  to  the 
States  a  republican  form  of  government,  because  he  prescribed 
the  rule  to  be  that  when  one  tenth  of  the  population  would 
take  a  certain  oath  and  agree  to  come  back  into  the  Union 
they  might  come  in  as  States.  When  we  consider  that  in 
the  light  of  American  principle,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  it  was 
absurd.  The  idea  that  a  State  shall  take  upon  itself  the  great 
privilege  of  self-government  when  there  are  only  one  tenth 
of  the  people  that  can  stand  by  the  principle  is  most  anti- 
republican,  anomalous,  and  entirely  subversive  of  the  great 
principles  that  underlie  all  our  State  governments  and  the 
General  Government.  Majorities  must  rule,  and  until  ma 
jorities  be  found  loyal  and  trustworthy  for  State  government, 
they  must  be  governed  by  a  stronger  hand.  .  .  . 

"...  I  hold  that  once  a  State  of  this  Union,  always 
a  State;  that  you  cannot  by  wrong  and  violence  displace  the 
rights  of  anybody  or  disorganize  the  State."  It  was  mar- 


266    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

vellous  to  him  how  gentlemen  could  fancy  that  States  for 
feited  their  rights  because  more  or  less  of  the  people  had  gone 
off  into  rebellion,  and  he  added,  "  This  bill  proceeds  upon  that 
idea  and  discards  absolutely  the  notion  that  States  may  lose 
their  rights  and  that  they  may  be  abrogated  and  may  be 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  Territories.  It  denies  any  such 
thing  as  that.  No  sound  principle  can  be  adopted  that  war 
rants  any  such  thing." 

Noticing  the  imposition  of  conditions  on  the  admission  or 
on  the  readmission  of  a  State,  he  remarked  that  this  feature 
of  the  bill  would  probably  receive  more  criticism  than  any 
other,  and  declared,  "  that  the  great  Union  party  of  the 
country  are  altogether  convinced  that  slavery  mixed  up  in 
a  Government  is  so  unsafe,  so  liable  to  overthrow  that  it 
cannot  be  admitted  as  an  element  in  a  State  government. 
.  •;'•  .  Therefore  this  bill  has  taken  special  pains  to  say 
that  the  new  government  shall,  in  its  constitution,  proclaim 
emancipation  as  a  condition  upon  which  it  shall  be  permitted 
to  come  into  the  Union."  There  was  a  time,  he  admitted, 
when  it  would  have  been  deemed  unconstitutional  in  Con 
gress  to  prescribe  any  particular  principle  for  a  constitution 
when  a  State  was  seeking  to  come  into  the  Union.  "  We 
have  done  so,  however,"  he  asserted,  "  in  every  State  that 
we  have  ever  admitted,"  and  yet  perhaps  the  question  was 
never  entirely  settled.  "  Would  it  be  wise  for  us,"  he  asked, 
"  in  admitting  States  back  into  this  Union  to  permit  them 
to  come  with  the  very  element  that  carried  them  out,  with 
the  very  seeds  of  destruction  which  had  destroyed  them 
already?  The  framers  of  this  bill,"  he  continued,  "have 
sedulously  shut  it  out,  and  made  it  a  condition  on  which  the 
seceded  States  shall  come  back  that  it  shall  be  a  fundamental 
principle  of  their  constitution  that  slavery  is  excluded." 

The  amendment  of  Senator  Brown  he  characterized  as  a 
bare  negative;  it  did  not  inform  the  people  of  the  seceded 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       267 

/ 

States  upon  what  principle  they  were  to  be  again  admitted 
into  the  Union.1 

Mr.  Carlile,  of  Virginia,  observed  on  entering  into  the  dis 
cussion  that  everything  the  bill  proposed  to  do  in  the  way  of 
remedying  existing  evils  would  be  accomplished  by  adopting 
the  amendment  offered  by  the  Senator  from  Missouri.  The 
provisions  of  the  bill  were  not  to  be  enforced  and  were  not 
to  have  any  life  until  after  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion, 
and,  therefore,  there  could  be  no  pressing  necessity  for  action 
at  that  time,  when  a  large  majority  of  Senators  expected  in 
three  or  four  days  to  leave  Washington  for  their  homes. 
Senator  Wade  interrupted  him  to  point  out  that  there  was 
provided  a  military  governor  whose  duties  could  be  performed 
in  any  stage  of  the  rebellion,  from  the  time  Federal  forces 
obtained  a  foothold  in  any  State  until  it  was  in  the  Union 
again.  The  Virginia  Senator  agreed  with  Mr.  Wade  as  to 
the  extent  of  the  President's  power  in  the  matter,  and  in  the 
belief  that  once  a  State  in  the  Union  always  a  State;  but  the 
bill,  he  said,  not  only  maintained  that  State  governments  were 
overthrown,  but  so  far  as  it  could  do  so,  recognized  and 
assumed  the  right  to  overthrow  the  State  governments  if  that 
work  was  not  already  accomplished.  If  the  President  had 
not  the  right  to  prescribe  rules  for  the  return  of  rebellious 
States,  where  was  the  constitutional  provision  which  au 
thorized  Congress  to  do  so?  The  title  of  the  bill  was  an 
insult,  he  declared,  to  the  understanding  of  every  enlightened 
man  in  the  nation  and  the  bill  itself  one  of  the  most  revolu 
tionary  that  ever  was  proposed  in  a  deliberative  body  claim 
ing  to  be  the  representatives  of  a  free  people. 

The  question  mooted  in  Congress  forty  years  before,  he 
continued,  was  insignificant  compared  to  the  present.     That 
was  a  proposition  to  impose  upon  the  inhabitants  of  a  Terri 
tory  seeking  admission  into  the  Union  a  restriction  upon  their 
1  Globe,  Part  IV.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp  3448-3450. 


268    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

right  of  self-government  when  they  became  a  State.  After 
one  of  the  most  exhaustive  and  learned  debates  that  ever 
graced  the  Capitol  of  the  nation  that  assumption  for  Congress 
was  abandoned.  It  was  permitted  to  rest  as  the  settled  law 
of  the  land  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  impose  limitations 
affecting  the  right  of  the  people  of  a  State  to  regulate  their 
own  domestic  affairs,  even  when  sought  to  be  applied  to  the 
inhabitants  of  a  Territory  seeking  admission  to  the  Union. 
This  continued  the  settled  action  of  Congress  until  reversed 
at  the  preceding  session  by  assuming  to  create  an  independent 
State  out  of  a  portion  of  the  Commonwealth  which  he  repre 
sented. 

"  No  State  can  have  a  Republican  form  of  government," 
he  declared,  "  no  State  has  a  republican  government,  when 
that  government,  no  matter  what  are  its  provisions,  is  pre 
scribed  to  them  by  another  outside  of  their  limits.  A  repub 
lican  form  of  government  must  emanate  and  emanate  alone 
from  the  people  that  are  to  be  governed.  It  belongs  not  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States;  it  belongs  not  to  the 
thirty-three  States  of  this  Union  to  prescribe  for  the  smallest 
State  within  its  folds  a  constitution  or  form  of  government. 
If  you  have  a  right  to  impose  a  limitation  upon  this  power  as 
to  one  subject  of  domestic  legislation  you  have  a  right  to 
impose  it  upon  every  subject.  If  you  have  a  right  to  make 
one  provision  of  a  constitution  for  a  people  you  have  the 
right  to  make  the  entire  instrument  itself." 

An  interruption  of  his  argument  by  Mr.  Wade  drew  from 
the  Virginia  Senator  a  query  rather  embarrassing  to  the  Ohio 
statesman.  "  Where,"  asked  Carlile,  "  does  the  Senator  de 
rive  the  power  to  appoint  a  governor  for  a  State,  a  State  which 
he  acknowledges  to  be  in  existence,  a  State  government  that  he 
acknowledges  to  be  in  existence,  a  State  government  that  he 
acknowledges  it  to  be  his  duty  to  protect  and  maintain  ?  By 
what  provision  of  the  Constitution  does  the  Senator  derive 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       269 

the  authority  to  appoint  for  such  a  State  an  executive  head  ?  " 
Mr.  Wade  replied  that  when  the  Constitution  imposed  the 
duty  of  guaranteeing  a  republican  form  of  government  it 
conferred  the  power  to  do  so,  and  he  in  turn  inquired,  "  Is 
not  that  good  law?  "  "  No,  sir,"  answered  Carlile,  who  pro 
ceeded  :  "  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  will  satisfy  the  Senator  him 
self,  I  think;  and  really  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  attempt 
to  satisfy  him,  for  he  is  too  good  a  lawyer  not  to  know  the 
meaning  of  the  word  '  guaranty/  What  is  it  ?  Does  the 
authority  to  '  guaranty  to  each  State  in  this  Union  a  republi 
can  form  of  government '  authorize  this  Union  to  set  up  a 
government,  to  create  a  government,  or  to  make  a  govern 
ment?  Is  the  maker  of  a  note  the  man  who  guaranties  its 
payment?  There  is  no  man  in  the  Senate  who  knows  better 
the  definition  and  legal  significance  of  the  word  '  guaranty ' 
than  the  Senator  from  Ohio,  and  none,  I  am  sure,  is  more 
familiar,  too,  with  the  power  that  was  intended  to  be  conferred 
by  this  provision  of  the  Constitution."  After  admitting  that 
he  would  bring  the  power  of  the  Government  to  bear  on  a 
faction  who  undertook  to  establish  a  monarchical  form  of  gov 
ernment,  Mr.  Wade  put  this  hypothetical  case :  "  Suppose 
now  that  we  have  conquered  them  and  the  people  are  still 
bent  on  their  monarchy,  shall  we  not  guaranty  a  republican 
government  to  them  by  putting  one  over  them  ?  "  "If  the 
Senator  be  right,"  answered  Carlile,  "  Mr.  Madison,  the  au 
thor  of  the  Constitution,  was  wrong."  He  then  quoted  from 
the  forty-third  number  of  the  Federalist : 

"To  guaranty  to  every  State  in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of 
government ;  to  protect  each  of  them  against  invasion ;  and  on  appli 
cation  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature 
cannot  be  convened),  against  domestic  violence." 

In  a  confederacy  founded  on  republican  principles  and  composed  of 
republican  members,  the  superintending  government  ought  clearly  to 
possess  authority  to  defend  the  system  against  aristocratic  or  monarchical 
innovations. 


270    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

"The  very  case  put  by  Senator  Wade,"  observed  Carlile; 
"  and  how  it  is  to  be  done  is  stated :  " 

The  more  intimate  the  nature  of  such  a  Union  may  be,  the  greater  in 
terest  have  the  members  in  the  political  institutions  of  each  other;  and 
the  greater  right  to  insist  that  the  forms  of  government  under  which  the 
compact  was  entered  into  should  be  substantially  maintained.  ...  It 
may  possibly  be  asked,  what  need  there  could  be  of  such  a  precaution,  and 
whether  it  may  not  become  a  pretext  for  alterations  in  the  State  govern 
ments,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  States  themselves.  These  ques 
tions  admit  of  ready  answers.  If  the  interposition  of  the  General  Govern 
ment  should  not  be  needed,  the  provision  for  such  an  event  will  be  a 
harmless  superfluity  only  in  the  Constitution.  But  who  can  say  what 
experiments  can  be  produced  by  the  caprice  of  particular  States,  by  the 
ambition  of  enterprising  leaders,  or  by  the  intrigues  and  influence  of 
foreign  powers?  To  the  second  question  it  may  be  answered  that  if  the 
General  Government  should  interpose  by  virtue  of  this  constitutional 
authority,  it  will  be,  of  course,  bound  to  pursue  the  authority.  But  the 
authority  extends  no  further  than  to  a  guaranty  of  a  republican  form 
of  government,  which  supposes  a  preexisting  government  of  the  form 
which  is  to  be  guarantied. 

Sustained  in  his  position  by  Madison's  commentary  Car 
lile  resumed :  "  Now,  sir,  is  the  Senator  answered  ?  ;  »  . 
It  is  not  claimed  or  pretended,  I  suppose,  by  the  Senator  from 
Ohio,  or  by  any  advocate  of  this  bill,  that  under  any  other  pro 
vision  of  the  Constitution  can  a  pretext  be  afforded  for  the 
assertion  of  such  a  power  as  this  bill  proposes  to  assert."  To 
Senator  Wilkinson's  inquiry,  what  would  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  do  if  the  people  of  South  Carolina  deter 
mined  that  they  would  not  have  a  republican  form  of  gov 
ernment  in  that  State,  the  Virginia  Senator  answered: 

"  I  would  have  the  Government  of  the  United  States  do 
nothing  that  it  has  not  the  power  under  the  Constitution  to 
do,  because  I  believe  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
is  a  Government  of  limited  powers.  I  believe  it  to  be  its 
duty  under  the  grant  of  power  in  the  Constitution  to  guaranty 
the  existence  of  a  preexisting  republican  government.  That 
government  existed  in  South  Carolina;  the  people  have  not 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       271 

determined,  at  least  before  this  war  they  had  not  determined, 
to  have  any  other  than  a  republican  form  of  government. 
We  had  recognized  that  government  as  a  republican  form  of 
government  by  the  recognition  of  the  State  in  all  its  depart 
ments  and  the  admission  of  all  its  national  representatives. 
It  is  made  the  duty  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
not  of  Congress;  and  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
Senator  to  that,  because  it  bears  upon  his  assumption  for  Con 
gress  of  power  which  does  not  belong  to  the  Executive.  It 
is  not  alone  the  duty  of  Congress  to  guaranty  a  republican 
form  of  government  to  the  people  of  the  several  States;  the 
extent  of  that  guarantee  is  not  limited  alone  to  the  means 
which  Congress  may  employ;  but  the  words  of  the  Constitu 
tion  are  'the  United  States  shall  guaranty/  Hence  every 
department  of  the  Government  is  equally  bound;  and  Con 
gress  being  the  legislative  branch  of  course  participates  to  a 
greater  extent  in  the  discharge  of  that  duty." 

After  a  discussion  with  Mr.  Clark,  Carlile  proceeded  in  his 
argument :  "  But,  sir,  the  Senator  from  Ohio  says  the  Union 
is  to  be  preserved.  So  say  I.  Upon  what  principle  are  these 
States  to  come  back  into  the  Union?  The  people,  says  the 
Senator  from  Ohio,  will  meet  you  with  that  inquiry.  Sir, 
when  was  ever  such  an  inquiry  suggested  to  the  brain  of  any 
loyal  man  in  this  Union?  When  was  such  an  inquiry  ever 
put?  Never  until  after  a  policy  different  from  that  which 
characterized  the  commencement  of  this  struggle  was  entered 
upon  by  the  party  in  power.  All  said  the  Union  was  to  be 
restored;  all  accepted  the  struggle  as  the  use  of  the  military 
power  of  the  Government  in  the  restoration  of  the  Union. 
What  Union?  The  Union  of  the  Constitution.  The  Union 
into  which  new  States  are  to  be  admitted.  It  is  not  into  '  a 
Union '  but  into  '  this  Union '  that  the  States  are  admitted. 
What  Union?  The  Union  of  the  Constitution,  none  other; 
and  he  who  seeks  to  preserve  the  Union  can  only  do  it  by  an 


272    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

observance  of  the  Constitution  and  of  the  constitutional  means 
to  restore  it,  not  reconstruct  it. 

"  .  .  .  In  this  Union,  created  by  this  Constitution, 
of  limited  and  delegated  powers,  all  prescribed  and  written  in 
the  instrument,  you  propose  to  exercise  your  legislative  power 
by  usurping  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people,  a  power 
which  all  the  people  you  represent  could  not  use  or  could  not 
exert  without  the  destruction  of  the  Union  which  the  Consti 
tution  formed.  There  is  no  power  in  this  Government,  there 
is  no  power  in  the  parties  to  this  Government,  there  is  no 
power  in  all  the  States  of  this  Union  to  prescribe  a  constitu 
tion  for  the  little  State  of  Rhode  Island.  If  every  other  State 
in  the  Union,  the  adhering  as  well  as  the  rebellious  States,  if 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  them  were  to  meet  and  pre 
scribe  a  constitution  for  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  they 
would  have  no  power  or  authority  to  do  so  under  the  Union; 
and  tell  me  where  the  people's  representatives  derive  the  power 
to  do  that  which  all  the  people  in  their  collective  capacity,  save 
the  small  minority  which  constitutes  that  State,  cannot  do  ?  "  * 

Mr.  Carlile  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  bill  under  consid 
eration  was  not  a  war  measure.  In  a  running  argument  with 
several  Senators  he  showed  both  a  ready  and  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  the  Constitution  and  made  some  telling  points 
against  the  bill  as  well  as  against  the  radical  tendencies  in 
Congress.  His  speech  was,  perhaps,  the  very  ablest  delivered 
by  any  Senator  in  opposition  to  the  proposed  measure.  At 
its  conclusion  Mr.  Brown's  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

An  amendment  offered  by  Charles  Sumner  to  enact  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  into  a  law  was  rejected  by  a  vote 
of  21  to  ii.  The  Massachusetts  statesman  did  not  wish,  he 
said,  to  see  the  edict  of  freedom  "  left  to  float  on  a  Presidential 
proclamation."  2 

1  Globe,  Part  IV.,  I  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  3451-3453. 
JIbid.,  p.  3460. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       273 

The  bill  concerning  States  in  insurrection  against  the 
United  States  then  passed  the  Senate  by  26  yeas  to  3  nays.1 
When  the  vote  was  taken  20  Senators  were  absent.  On  the 
succeeding  day,  July  2,  1864,  a  message  announced  the  dis 
agreement  of  the  House  to  the  Senate  amendment  and  re 
quested  a  committee  of  conference.  A  subsequent  motion  of 
Mr.  Wade  that  the  Senate  recede  from  its  amendment  and 
agree  to  the  bill  of  the  House  was  carried  after  some  discus 
sion  by  a  vote  of  18  to  14,  thus  passing  the  bill  on  the  same 
day.2  The  names  of  Doolittle,  Henderson,  Ten  Eyck  and 
Trumbull  voting  with  the  Democrats  in  opposition  fore 
shadowed  that  division  in  the  Republican  ranks  which  after 
wards  occurred. 

The  history  of  this  famous  bill  from  the  moment  of  its 
passage  by  Congress  until  the  publication  a  week  later  of  the 
President's  proclamation  concerning  it  is  best  related  in  the 
Life  of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  his  private  secretaries,  Messrs.  Nicolay 
and  Hay.  These  writers  possessed  an  unusual  opportunity 
for  ascertaining  the  sentiments  of  the  President  upon  nearly 
every  question  of  public  interest. 

"  Congress,"  says  the  diary  of  Mr.  Hay,  "  was  to  adjourn 
at  noon  on  the  Fourth  of  July;  the  President  was  in  his  room 
at  the  Capitol  signing  bills,  which  were  laid  before  him  as 
they  were  brought  from  the  two  Houses.  When  this  im 
portant  bill  was  placed  before  him  he  laid  it  aside  and  went 
on  with  the  other  work  of  the  moment.  Several  prominent 
members  entered  in  a  state  of  intense  anxiety  over  the  fate 
of  the  bill.  Mr.  Sumner  and  Mr.  Boutwell,  while  their  ner 
vousness  was  evident,  refrained  from  any  comment.  Zacha- 
riah  Chandler,  who  was  unabashed  in  any  mortal  presence, 
roundly  asked  the  President  if  he  intended  to  sign  the  bill. 
The  President  replied :  '  This  bill  has  been  placed  before  me 

1  Globe,  Part  IV., I  Sess.  38th  Cong., p.  3461. 
a  Ibid.,  p.  3491- 


274    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

a  few  moments  before  Congress  adjourns.  It  is  a  matter  of 
too  much  importance  to  be  swallowed  in  that  way/  '  If  it  is 
vetoed/  cried  Mr.  Chandler,  '  it  will  damage  us  fearfully  in 
the  Northwest.  The  important  point  is  that  one  prohibiting 
slavery  in  the  reconstructed  States.'  Mr.  Lincoln  said: 
'  That  is  the  point  on  which  I  doubt  the  authority  of  Congress 
to  act/  '  It  is  no  more  than  you  have  done  yourself/  said 
the  Senator.  The  President  answered :  '  I  conceive  that  I 
may  in  an  emergency  do  things  on  military  grounds  which 
cannot  be  done  constitutionally  by  Congress/  Mr.  Chandler, 
expressing  his  deep  chagrin,  went  out,  and  the  President,  ad 
dressing  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  who  were  seated  with 
him,  said :  '  I  do  not  see  how  any  of  us  now  can  deny  and 
contradict  what  we  have  always  said,  that  Congress  has  no 
constitutional  power  over  slavery  in  the  States/  Mr.  Fes- 
senden  expressed  his  entire  agreement  with  this  view.  1 1 
have  even  had  my  doubts/  he  said,  '  as  to  the  constitutional 
efficacy  of  your  own  decree  of  emancipation,  in  those  cases 
where  it  has  not  been  carried  into  effect  by  the  actual  advance 
of  the  army/ 

"  The  President  said :  '  This  bill  and  the  position  of  these 
gentlemen  seem  to  me,  in  asserting  that  the  insurrectionary 
States  are  no  longer  in  the  Union,  to  make  the  fatal  admission 
that  States,  whenever  they  please,  may  of  their  own  motion 
dissolve  their  connection  with  the  Union.  Now  we  cannot 
survive  that  admission,  I  am  convinced.  If  that  be  true,  I 
am  not  President ;  these  gentlemen  are  not  Congress.  I  have 
laboriously  endeavored  to  avoid  that  question  ever  since  it  first 
began  to  be  mooted,  and  thus  to  avoid  confusion  and  disturb 
ance  in  our  own  councils.  It  was  to  obviate  this  question  that 
I  earnestly  favored  the  movement  for  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  abolishing  slavery,  which  passed  the  Senate  and 
failed  in  the  House.  I  thought  it  much  better,  if  it  were  pos 
sible,  to  restore  the  Union  without  the  necessity  of  a  violent 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       275 

quarrel  among  its  friends  as  to  whether  certain  States  have 
been  in  or  out  of  the  Union  during  the  war  —  a  merely  meta 
physical  question,  and  one  unnecessary  to  be  forced  into  dis 
cussion/ 

"Although  every  member  of  the  Cabinet  agreed  with  the 
President,  when,  a  few  minutes  later,  he  entered  his  carriage 
to  go  home,  he  foresaw  the  importance  of  the  step  he  had  re 
solved  to  take  and  its  possibly  disastrous  consequences  to  him 
self.  When  some  one  said  to  him  that  the  threats  made  by  the 
extreme  radicals  had  no  foundation,  and  that  people  would 
not  bolt  their  ticket  on  a  question  of  metaphysics,  he  an 
swered  :  '  If  they  choose  to  make  a  point  upon  this,  I  do  not 
doubt  that  they  can  do  harm.  They  have  never  been  friendly 
to  me.  At  all  events,  I  must  keep  some  consciousness  of 
being  somewhere  near  right.  I  must  keep  some  standard  or 
principle  fixed  within  myself.'  "  * 

A  perusal  of  the  preceding  abridgment  of  debates  shows 
clearly  that  the  bill  was  designed  by  Congress  as  a  measure 
of  reconstruction  and  intended  by  many  of  its  leading  advo 
cates  as  a  rebuke  of  the  President.  He  was  not,  however,  a 
statesman  whom  even  the  deliberate  censure  of  a  coordinate 
branch  of  Government  could  hurry  into  an  act  of  rashness; 
he  had  never  been  precipitate;  indeed,  the  burden  of  radical 
criticism  was  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  provokingly  slow.  This 
was  the  opinion  which  Charles  Sumner  expressed  in  confi 
dential  correspondence  with  his  English  friends2  and  which 
Secretary  Chase  entered  in  the  pages  of  his  diary.8  The 
President  was,  it  is  true,  the  most  cautious  of  men,  and  the 
fact  goes  far  to  explain  the  absence  during  his  eventful 
administration  of  even  a  single  serious  blunder;  the  dis- 

1  Diary  of  John  Hay,  quoted  in  Abraham  Lincoln,  A  History,  Vol.  IX. 
pp.  120-122. 

*  Pierce' s  Memoir  of  Sumner,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  57,  60,  83,  84, 106,  108, 130,  etc. 
'  Shuckers'  Life  of  Chase,  pp.  440n,  442,  453,  495. 


276    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

covery  of  a  gross  error  of  judgment  seldom  or  never  rewarded 
the  researches  of  his  ablest  critics.  Though  his  modesty  was 
scarcely  less  than  his  prudence,  he  entertained  a  just  concep 
tion  of  the  dignity  of  his  office;  long  reflection  upon  consti 
tutional  questions,  which  made  him  familiar  with  the  extent 
of  executive  power,  taught  him  likewise  to  recognize  those 
limitations  which  the  fundamental  law  had  imposed  upon  leg 
islative  action.  Another  characteristic  which  made  him  a 
formidable  adversary  in  every  controversy  was  a  constant 
purpose  to  be  always,  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  "  somewhere 
near  right." 

The  measure  had  been  so  long  under  consideration  that 
none  of  its  provisions  could  have  taken  him  by  surprise,  and 
we  are  justified  in  concluding  that  when  the  bill  was  presented 
for  his  approval  he  had  already  determined  on  his  course  of 
action.  Indeed  there  is  evidence  that  some  of  his  supporters 
in  Congress  had  written  to  their  friends  in  Louisiana  predict 
ing  the  very  fate  that  afterward  befell  the  bill.  Their  outline 
of  the  President's  course  admits  of  no  other  explanation  than 
that  he  had  communicated  to  them  his  intentions  respecting 
it.  The  progress  of  the  measure  in  the  Senate  was  to  be  so 
retarded  that  the  adjournment  of  Congress  would  relieve  him 
of  the  necessity  of  exercising  the  veto,  and  that  is  precisely 
what  happened.  In  the  very  last  hour  of  the  session  it  was 
submitted  for  his  approval;  his  disposal  of  the  bill  on  that 
occasion  has  already  been  noticed;  his  approval  was  withheld 
and  Congress  rose  before  the  expiration  of  the  ten  days  which 
would  enact  the  bill  into  a  law  without  his  signature.  Though 
an  interested  view  had  not  been  overlooked,  he  disregarded  in 
discharge  of  his  duty  every  personal  consequence  of  the  im 
portant  step  which  he  purposed  to  take.  His  hostility  to  the 
measure  had  long  been  suspected,  but  when  knowledge  of  his 
failure  to  approve  it  had  become  a  certainty  the  anger  of  the 
more  radical  members  of  his  party  became  extreme.  They 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN        277 

had  clearly  been  outwitted  by  the  President  and  many  of  them, 
eager  for  retaliation,  returned  to  their  homes  meditating 
schemes  of  revenge. 

For  the  present,  at  least,  anything  like  adequate  discipline  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  within  their  power,  for  the  Baltimore 
convention,  which  renominated  him  for  the  Presidency,  had 
adjourned  nearly  a  month  before.  This  at  least  was  secure. 
His  election,  though  not  entirely  a  foregone  conclusion,  was 
reasonably  assured;  few  of  the  discomfited  members  even 
imagined  the  thought  of  injuring  their  party  to  embarrass  the 
President.  It  is  easy  to  believe,  however,  that  they  intended 
such  criticism  of  his  policy  as  would  be  consistent  with  party 
success.  But  even  here  he  resolved  to  dispute  with  them  a 
field  of  operations  which  they  believed  entirely  their  own.  The 
President,  it  is  true,  could  not,  even  if  so  inclined,  justify  his 
conduct  in  person  before  the  voters  of  every  State  in  the 
Union ;  he  could,  however,  and  did  forestall  expected  criticism 
from  Congressmen  by  publishing  a  proclamation  vindicating 
his  "  pocket "  veto,  thus  destroying  whatever  hope  remained 
to  radical  Republicans  of  diminishing  his  popularity  by  ascrib 
ing  to  him  base  or  selfish  motives  for  opposing  the  sense  of 
the  Legislative  department  of  Government.  As  on  other 
critical  occasions  so  on  this  he  found  no  precedent  to  guide 
him,  but  with  characteristic  firmness  proceeded  deliberately 
to  establish  one.  When  some  of  the  Congressmen  reached 
their  States  they  found  their  constituents  already  pondering 
the  proclamation  of  July  8,  1864.  Its  importance  requires 
that  it  be  quoted  in  full : 

Whereas,  at  the  late  session,  Congress  passed  a  bill  to  "  guarantee  to 
certain  States,  whose  governments  have  been  usurped  or  overthrown, 
a  republican  form  of  government,"  a  copy  of  which  is  hereunto  annexed ; 

And  whereas  the  said  bill  was  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  for  his  approval  less  than  one  hour  before  the  sine  die  adjourn 
ment  of  said  session,  and  was  not  signed  by  him; 

And  whereas  the  said  bill  contains,  among  other  things,  a  plan  for 


278     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

restoring  the  States  in  rebellion  to  their  proper  practical  relation  in 
the  Union,  which  plan  expresses  the  sense  of  Congress  upon  that  subject, 
and  which  plan  it  is  now  thought  fit  to  lay  before  the  people  for  their 
consideration : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States, 
do  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known,  that,  while  I  am  (as  I  was  in  De 
cember  last,  when  by  proclamation  I  propounded  a  plan  for  restoration) 
unprepared,  by  a  formal  approval  of  this  bill,  to  be  inflexibly  committed 
to  any  single  plan  of  restoration ;  and,  while  I  am  also  unprepared  to  de 
clare  that  the  free- State  constitutions  and  governments  already  adopted 
and  installed  in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  shall  be  set  aside  and  held  for 
naught,  thereby  repelling  and  discouraging  the  loyal  citizens  who  have  set 
up  the  same  as  to  further  effort,  or  to  declare  a  constitutional  competency 
in  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  States,  but  am  at  the  same  time  sincerely 
hoping  and  expecting  that  a  constitutional  amendment  abolishing  slavery 
throughout  the  nation  may  be  adopted,  nevertheless  I  am  fully  satisfied 
with  the  system  for  restoration  contained  in  the  bill  as  one  very  proper 
plan  for  the  loyal  people  of  any  State  choosing  to  adopt  it,  and  that  I 
am,  and  at  all  times  shall  be,  prepared  to  give  the  Executive  aid  and 
assistance  to  such  people,  so  soon  as  the  military  resistance  to  the  United 
States  shall  have  been  suppressed  in  any  such  State,  and  the  people 
thereof  shall  have  sufficiently  returned  to  their  obedience  to  the  Con 
stitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  in  which  cases  Military  Governors 
will  be  appointed,  with  directions  to  proceed  according  to  the  bill.1 

This  unexpected  publication  was  very  differently  received 
by  the  various  elements  composing  the  Republican  party;  a 
large  majority  of  those  acting  with  that  organization  still  con 
fided  in  Mr.  Lincoln;  by  the  radical  wing,  however,  he  was 
sharply  censured.  Notwithstanding  the  necessity  for  harmony 
in  the  approaching  campaign  two  of  the  boldest  leaders,  dis 
regarding  every  consideration  of  prudence,  arraigned  the 
President  in  language  which  for  severity  was  never  surpassed 
by  the  invectives  of  his  ablest  political  opponents.  In  the  en 
tire  experience  of  the  Republic  no -Executive  had  ever  assumed 
to  reject  those  provisions  in  a  legislative  measure  which  he 
disliked  and  adopt  those  that  were  acceptable.  This  is  pre 
cisely  what  Mr.  Lincoln  did,  and  the  reasons  for  his  action  he 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  545 ;  Mc- 
Pfierson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  318-319. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       279 

declared  to  the  people  with  a  confidence  which  forcibly  recalls 
the  direction  of  Andrew  Jackson  to  the  editor  of  his  official 
organ :  "  Speak  out  to  the  people,  sir,  and  tell  them  that  in 
stead  of  supporting  me  and  my  policy  Congress  is  engaged  in 
President-making."  There  was,  however,  this  difference: 
Abraham  Lincoln  addressed  the  people  directly  and  ventured 
no  criticism  of  their  representatives.  Like  his  more  impulsive 
though  not  less  popular  predecessor  he  was  not  deceived  in 
the  reliance  which  he  placed  in  the  patriotic  instincts  of  the 
multitude,  which  cared  little  for  nice  metaphysical  distinc 
tions;  by  the  masses  of  the  people  he  was  trusted  to  the 
end. 

By  Henry  Winter  Davis  and  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  chief  au 
thors  of  the  bill,  its  progress  had  been  watched  with  feverish 
anxiety;  when  convinced  that  their  labor  was  lost  they  be 
came  greatly  agitated  and  made  no  effort  to  conceal  their 
indignation  at  the  conduct  of  the  President.  Their  joint  pro 
test,  printed  in  the  New  York  Tribune  of  August  5,  was,  per 
haps,  the  most  bitter  attack  made  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  during  his 
Presidential  career.  Their  fierce  manifesto,  addressed  "  To 
the  supporters  of  the  Government,"  declares  that  the  writers 
had  "  read  without  surprise,  but  not  without  indignation,  the 
proclamation  of  the  President  of  the  8th  of  July,  1864. 

"  The  supporters  of  the  Administration  are  responsible  to 
the  country  for  its  conduct;  and  it  is  their  right  and  duty  to 
check  the  encroachments  of  the  Executive  on  the  authority  of 
Congress,  and  to  require  it  to  confine  itself  to  its  proper 
sphere." 

The  paper  then  related  the  history  of  the  bill.  Its  treat 
ment  by  the  President,  they  declared,  indicated  a  persistent 
though  unavowed  purpose  to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people  by 
the  Executive  perversion  of  the  Constitution.  They  insin 
uated  that  only  the  lowest  personal  motives  could  have  dictated 
this  action.  "  The  President,"  they  said,  "  by  preventing  this 


280    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

bill  from  becoming  a  law,  holds  the  electoral  votes  of  the 
rebel  States  at  the  dictation  of  his  personal  ambition. 

"  If  those  votes  turn  the  balance  in  his  favor,  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  his  competitor,  defeated  by  such  means,  will 
acquiesce  ? 

"If  the  rebel  majority  assert  their  supremacy  in  those 
States,  and  send  votes  which  elect  an  enemy  of  the  Govern 
ment,  will  we  not  repel  his  claims? 

"  And  is  not  that  civil  war  for  the  Presidency  inaugurated 
by  the  votes  of  the  rebel  States  ? 

"  Seriously  impressed  with  these  dangers,  Congress,  '  the 
proper  constitutional  authority,'  formally  declared  that  there 
are  no  State  governments  in  the  rebel  States,  and  provided 
for  their  erection  at  a  proper  time;  and  both  the  Senate  and 
the  House  of  Representatives  rejected  the  Senators  and 
Representatives  chosen  under  the  authority  of  what  the 
President  calls  the  free  constitution  and  government  of  Ar 
kansas. 

"  The  President's  proclamation  *  holds  for  naught '  this 
judgment,  and  discards  the  authority  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  strides  headlong  toward  the  anarchy  his  proclamation  of 
the  8th  of  December  inaugurated. 

"  If  electors  for  President  be  allowed  to  be  chosen  in  either 
of  those  States,  a  sinister  light  will  be  cast  on  the  motives 
which  induced  the  President  to  '  hold  for  naught J  the  will  of 
Congress  rather  than  his  government  in  Louisiana  and  Ar 
kansas. 

"  The  judgment  of  Congress  which  the  President  defies 
was  the  exercise  of  an  authority  exclusively  vested  in  Con 
gress  by  the  Constitution,  to  determine  what  is  the  established 
government  in  a  State,  and  in  its  own  nature  and  by  the 
highest  judicial  authority  binding  on  all  other  departments  of 
the  Government." 

They  ridiculed  the  President's  expressed  hope  that  the  con- 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN        281 

stitutional  amendment  abolishing  slavery  might  be  adopted. 
"  We  curiously  inquire,"  continue  Messrs.  Wade  and  Davis, 
"  on  what  his  expectation  rests,  after  the  vote  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  the  recent  session,  and  in  the  face  of  the 
political  complexion  of  more  than  enough  of  the  States  to 
prevent  the  possibility  of  its  adoption  within  any  reasonable 
time;  and  why  he  did  not  indulge  his  sincere  hopes  with  so 
large  an  installment  of  the  blessing  as  his  approval  of  the  bill 
would  have  secured  ? 

"  A  more  studied  outrage  on  the  legislative  authority  of  the 
people  has  never  been  perpetrated. 

"  Congress  passed  a  bill;  the  President  refused  to  approve 
it,  and  then  by  proclamation  puts  as  much  of  it  in  force  as  he 
sees  fit,  and  proposes  to  execute  those  parts  by  officers  un 
known  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  not  subject  to  the 
confirmation  of  the  Senate. 

"  The  bill  directed  the  appointment  of  provisional  govern 
ors  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

"  The  President,  after  defeating  the  law,  proposes  to  ap 
point,  without  law  and  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  military  governors  for  the  rebel  States ! 

"  He  has  already  exercised  this  dictatorial  usurpation  in 
Louisiana,  and  defeated  the  bill  to  prevent  its  limitation." 

Scarcely  an  expression  of  the  proclamation,  which  was  ex 
amined  in  detail,  escaped  its  share  of  censure  or  of  ridicule. 
To  suppose  that  the  President  was  ignorant  of  the  contents 
of  the  bill  was  out  of  the  question,  for  it  had  been  discussed, 
they  asserted,  during  more  than  a  month  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  by  which  it  was  passed  as  early  as  the  4th  of 
May.  It  passed  the  Senate  in  absolutely  the  form  in  which  it 
came  from  the  House.  Indeed,  at  the  President's  request,  a 
draft  of  a  bill  substantially  the  same  in  material  points,  and 
almost  identical  in  those  features  objected  to  by  the  proclaim- 


282     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

tion,  was  submitted  for  his  consideration  during  the  winter 
of  1862-1863. 

The  "  Protest "  included  also  a  sharp  contrast  between  the 
Executive  plan  of  December  8,  1863,  and  that  embodied  in 
the  bill  which  had  passed  Congress.  That  measure,  said 
Messrs.  Wade  and  Davis,  required  a  majority  of  the  voters  to 
establish  a  State  government,  the  proclamation  was  satisfied 
with  one  tenth;  "  the  bill  requires  one  oath,  the  proclamation 
another;  the  bill  ascertains  voters  by  registering,  the  procla 
mation  by  guess;  the  bill  exacts  adherence  to  existing  terri 
torial  limits,  the  proclamation  admits  of  others;  the  bill  gov 
erns  the  rebel  States  by  law,  equalizing  all  before  it,  the 
proclamation  commits  them  to  the  lawless  discretion  of  mili 
tary  governors  and  provost  marshals;  the  bill  forbids  electors 
for  President  (in  the  rebel  States),  the  proclamation  and 
defeat  of  the  bill  threaten  us  with  civil  war  for  the  admission 
or  exclusion  of  such  votes.  .  .••;.'-• 

This  arraignment  of  the  President's  course  concluded  with 
the  language  of  admonition,  if  not  indeed  of  absolute  menace : 
"  The  President  has  greatly  presumed  on  the  forbearance 
which  the  supporters  of  his  Administration  have  so  long  prac 
tised,  in  view  of  the  arduous  conflict  in  which  we  are  engaged, 
and  the  reckless  ferocity  of  our  political  opponents. 

"  But  he  must  understand  that  our  support  is  of  a  cause, 
and  not  of  a  man;  that  the  authority  of  Congress  is  para 
mount  and  must  be  respected;  that  the  whole  body  of  the 
Union  men  of  Congress  will  not  submit  to  be  impeached  by 
him  of  rash  and  unconstitutional  legislation;  and  if  he  wishes 
our  support,  he  must  confine  himself  to  his  Executive  duties, 
—  to  obey  and  execute,  not  make  the  laws, —  to  suppress  by 
arms  armed  rebellion,  and  leave  political  reorganization  to 
Congress. 

"  If  the  supporters  of  the  Government  fail  to  insist  on  this, 
they  become  responsible  for  the  usurpations  which  they  fail 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN       283 

to  rebuke,  and  are  justly  liable  to  the  indignation  of  the  people 
whose  rights  and  security,  committed  to  their  keeping,  they 
sacrifice. 

"  Let  them  consider  the  remedy  for  these  usurpations,  and, 
having  found  it,  fearlessly  execute  it."  * 

The  authors  of  this  remarkable  paper  were  eminent  in  the 
councils  of  their  party  and  stood  high  in  the  estimation  of 
Union  men  everywhere.  Senator  Wade  was  distinguished 
no  less  for  his  physical  than  for  his  moral  courage  —  qualities 
impaired  somewhat,  it  is  true,  by  a  temper  fierce  and  vin 
dictive.  Henry  Winter  Davis,  whose  zeal  for  civil  lib 
erty  will  constitute  his  best  claim  to  the  gratitude  of 
posterity,  possessed  literary  gifts  scarcely  surpassed  by  any 
statesman  then  in  public  life.  Though  treated  with  extreme 
fairness,  not  to  say  generosity,  by  the  President,  he  pursued 
toward  the  Administration  a  course  of  consistent  hostility. 
This  opposition,  which  even  Mr.  Lincoln's  tact  could  never 
disarm,  has  been  ascribed  to  disappointment  at  his  failure  to 
obtain  a  place  in  the  Cabinet.  While  the  selection  of  Mont 
gomery  Blair  from  his  own  State  of  Maryland  may  have  been 
a  cause  of  estrangement,  a  sense  of  what  Mr.  Davis  regarded 
as  public  duty  contributed,  doubtless,  to  intensify  this  feeling, 
which  led  him  ultimately  to  think  the  President  scarcely  en 
titled  to  courteous  treatment.  With  the  Ohio  Senator  the 
pitiless  maxim,  vae  metis,  had  an  undoubted  influence.  Both 
were  gentlemen  of  wide  experience  and  acknowledged  ability, 
and  yet  their  vigorous  and  fearless  arraignment  of  the  Presi 
dent  revealed  an  astonishing  lack  of  political  sagacity.  They 
inquired,  for  example,  on  what  foundation  he  rested  his  ex 
pectation  of  an  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amendment 
abolishing  slavery.  The  incorporation,  soon  after,  of  such 
a  provision  in  the  fundamental  law  shows  their  want  of 
insight  into  the  tendencies  of  the  times.  The  fire  of  the 
*Ann.  Cycl.,  1864,  pp.  307-31011. 


284    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

prophet,  indeed,  was  present  in  the  protest;  his  inspiration 
was  altogether  wanting.  Their  absurd  assertion  that  the 
electoral  votes  of  Louisiana,  Arkansas  and  Tennessee  were 
the  prime  consideration  with  the  President  must  be  attributed 
to  the  passion  rather  than  to  the  reason  of  his  critics,  for 
few  men  of  that  generation  were  more  familiar  with  the 
Constitution  in  all  its  relations.  Better  than  most  of  their 
readers  they  knew  that  the  duty  of  counting  such  votes  was 
entrusted  not  to  a  possibly  interested  Executive,  but  to  a 
joint  convention  of  both  Houses.  If  the  Maryland  member 
believed  the  President  had  committed  the  misdemeanors 
charged  and  insinuated  it  was  his  duty  to  bring  before  the 
House  the  question  of  impeachment.  Far  less  than  was  ex 
pressed  in  the  protest  would  have  been  ground  for  investiga 
tion.  If  tenderness  to  Lincoln,  a  weakness  of  which  Mr. 
Davis  at  least  was  never  suspected,  or  a  concern  for  party 
welfare  prevented  such  a  step,  then  he  was  himself  guilty  of 
a  gross  neglect  of  duty.  Doubtless  this  consideration,  to 
gether  with  the  want  of  moderation  shown  in  the  manifesto, 
subjected  its  authors  to  a  suspicion  of  insincerity.  Indeed, 
one  does  not  read  a  dozen  lines  of  their  arraignment  without 
discovering  the  chief  if  not  the  sole  cause  of  its  publication. 
"  The  President,"  they  say,  "  did  not  sign  the  bill  '  to  guar 
antee  to  certain  States  whose  governments  have  been  usurped, 
a  republican  form  of  government ' —  passed  by  the  supporters 
of  his  Administration  in  both  Houses  of  Congress  after  ma 
ture  deliberation."  In  brief,  the  political  departments  of 
Government  had  entered  upon  a  struggle  for  power;  Con 
gress  had  been  defeated,  and  its  discomfited  leaders  sought 
to  relieve  their  feelings  by  railing  at  the  President. 

Except  that  it  probably  defeated  the  renomination  of  Mr. 
Davis  for  Congress,  their  protest  was  followed  by  no  political 
result  of  moment.1     In  it  the  mass  of  Republicans  perceived 
1  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II.  p.  44. 


RISE  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  PLAN        285 

only  the  seeds  of  dissension  within  their  ranks.  In  this  view 
it  was  a  source  of  delight  to  Democrats,  though  they  felt  lit 
tle  sympathy  with  either  the  defeated  bill  or  the  purposes  of 
its  chief  authors. 


VIII 

AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE 

WHEN  Congress  met  in  December,  1864,  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  who  received  the  electoral  votes  of  twenty- 
two  of  the  twenty-five  States  participating  in 
the  contest,  had  again  been  chosen  President.  In  the  struggle 
for  power  he  had  refrained  with  his  usual  prudence  from  im 
proving  his  advantage  over  the  Legislative  department.  The 
annual  message  omitted  all  reference  to  the  controversy  oc 
casioned  by  his  failure  to  sign,  and  his  proclamation  con 
cerning,  the  bill  of  Messrs.  Wade  and  Davis;  the  question 
of  reconstruction  was  noticed  in  only  the  most  casual  manner. 
A  statement  of  the  satisfactory  condition  of  foreign  relations 
introduced  the  Executive  communication;  the  subject  of 
finance  received  the  consideration  that  its  importance  re 
quired.  The  vast  proportions  and  the  efficient  state  of  the 
navy  were  mentioned  as  matter  of  congratulation.  General 
Sherman's  projected  march  of  three  hundred  miles  through 
hostile  regions  was  characterized  as  the  most  remarkable  fea 
ture  in  the  military  operations  of  the  year.  This  with  other 
evidences  of  approaching  disruption  in  the  Confederacy  led 
logically  to  a  summary  of  what  had  been  accomplished  to 
ward  reorganization  in  those  States  already  wrested  from  in 
surgent  armies.  On  this  subject  the  message  observed :  "  Im 
portant  movements  have  also  occurred  during  the  year  to  the 
effect  of  molding  society  for  durability  in  the  Union.  Al 
though  short  of  complete  success,  it  is  much  in  the  right 
direction  that  twelve  thousand  citizens  in  each  of  the  States 

286 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  287 

of  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  have  organized  loyal  State  gov 
ernments,  with  free  constitutions,  and  are  earnestly  struggling 
to  maintain  and  administer  them."  l  Movements  in  the  same 
direction,  he  said,  more  extensive  though  less  definite,  were 
in  progress  elsewhere  and  should  not  be  overlooked.  No 
plan  of  reconstruction  was  proposed,  or  even  alluded  to  in 
the  message. 

Among  questions  beyond  Executive  authority  to  adjust 
was  specified  the  admission  of  members  to  Congress.  In  dis 
claiming  power  over  this  subject  he  anticipated  the  criticism 
of  those  Senators  and  Representatives  who  later  in  the  session 
ascribed  to  him  a  design  to  usurp  important  functions  of  the 
Legislative  branch  of  Government. 

From  its  concluding  paragraphs  we  are  enabled  to  collect 
the  sentiments  of  the  President  relative  to  his  offer,  a  year 
before,  of  a  general  pardon  to  designated  classes  upon  speci 
fied  terms.  In  this  connection  he  said :  "  But  the  time  may 
come  —  probably  will  come  —  when  public  duty  shall  demand 
that  it  [the  door  open  to  repentant  rebels]  be  closed;  and 
that,  in  lieu,  more  rigorous  measures  than  heretofore  shall  be 
adopted."  This  seems  to  establish  beyond  question  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  feared  some  measures  more  stringent  than 
he  had  been  hitherto  pursuing  might  be  rendered  necessary 
by  the  failure  of  a  policy  of  clemency  to  recall  any  large 
number  of  insurgents  to  their  obedience  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws. 

He  ventured  to  recommend  a  reconsideration  of  the  pro 
posed  constitutional  amendment  abolishing  slavery  through 
out  the  United  States,  which  at  the  preceding  session  had 
passed  the  Senate,  but  failed  to  receive  in  the  House  the  requi 
site  two  thirds  vote.  Though  the  present,  he  reminded  them, 
was  the  same  Congress  and  composed  of  nearly  the  same  mem 
bers,  their  judgments  were,  no  doubt,  influenced  by  an  inter- 
*  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  p.  557. 


288    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

vening  election,  which,  though  it  imposed  on  them  no  obliga 
tion  to  change  their  views,  made  it  reasonably  certain  that  if 
they  did  not  submit  the  amendment  to  the  States  the  succeed 
ing  Congress  would.  He  inquired,  since  its  passage  was 
merely  a  question  of  time,  whether  they  would  not  agree  that 
the  sooner  the  better?  The  voice  of  the  people,  he  added, 
had  for  the  first  time  been  heard  on  that  question.1 

As  the  President  believed,  the  House  had  been  so  far  con 
verted  to  his  views  that  a  joint  resolution  adopting  the 
amendment  was  passed  early  in  the  session  by  a  vote  of  119 
to  56.2 

When  Congress  assembled  the  public  was  occupied  chiefly 
in  watching  the  progress  of  naval  and  military  operations. 
The  sinking  of  the  Alabama  and  the  capture  of  the  Florida 
practically  ended  Confederate  privateering,  for  any  expecta 
tions  based  upon  the  escape  of  the  Albemarle  were  frustrated 
by  the  enterprise  and  daring  of  Lieutenant  Cushing.  One 
army  had  been  destroyed  by  Sheridan,  another  crippled  by 
Thomas.  Tidings  of  telling  blows  inflicted  by  General  Sher 
man  gave  something  like  assurance  of  his  safety.  Though 
not  without  heavy  loss,  Grant  had  forced  Lee  within  the  de 
fences  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg.  Some  of  the  lesser 
Union  advantages  had,  it  is  true,  been  offset  by  Southern 
victories;  signs  of  disintegration  within  the  Confederacy, 
however,  were  multiplying,  and  this  condition  forced  upon 
Congress  the  inevitable  question  of  reconstruction. 

By  unanimous  consent  of  the  House  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
on  December  8,  offered  resolutions  distributing  the  President's 
message.  To  the  Committee  on  the  Rebellious  States  was 
referred  so  much  of  it  as  was  alleged  to  relate  "  to  the  duty 
of  the  United  States  to  guaranty  a  republican  form  of  gov- 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hist.,  pp.  555-558. 

1  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power  in  America,  Vol.  III.  p.  452. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  289 

ernment  to  the  States  in  which  the  governments  recognized 
by  the  United  States  have  been  abrogated  or  overthrown."  1 

Nothing  whatever  in  the  message  or  the  accompanying 
documents  related  to  any  such  duty  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  resolution  assumed  such  a  recommendation,  no 
doubt,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  subject  before  Con 
gress.  One  week  later,  Mr.  Ashley,  of  Ohio,  reported  a 
bill,  on  the  subject  of  Stevens's  resolution,  which  was  read 
twice,  ordered  to  be  printed  and  returned  to  the  Commit 
tee.  On  January  12  succeeding  Representative  Eliot,  of 
Massachusetts,  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  offer  at  the 
proper  time  an  amendment  to  the  bill  in  charge  of  Mr. 
Ashley.  No  objection  having  been  made,  it  was  ordered 
to  be  printed.  This  was,  in  fact,  a  substitute  for  the  bill  re 
ported  by  the  Ohio  member,  and  provided  "  that  no  State 
engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  allowed  to  resume  its  political  relations  with 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  until  by  the  action  of 
the  loyal  citizens  within  the  limits  of  the  same  a  State  con 
stitution  shall  be  ordained  and  established,  republican  in  form, 
forever  prohibiting  involuntary  servitude  within  the  State, 
and  guarantying  to  all  persons  freedom  and  equality  of  rights 
before  the  law."  Its  second  section  provided  "  that  the  State 
of  Louisiana  shall  be  permitted  to  renew  its  political  rela 
tions  with  the  Government  of  the  United  States  under  the 
constitution  adopted  by  the  convention  assembled  at  New 
Orleans  on  the  6th  of  April,  1864."  2 

That  some  of  the  more  influential  among  the  radical  mem 
bers  desired  to  avoid,  if  possible,  a  controversy  with  the  Presi 
dent  may  be  fairly  inferred  from  a  letter  of  Charles  Sumner, 
written  December  27,  1864,  to  Doctor  Lieber.  Among  other 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  12-13. 
a  Ibid.,  p.  234. 


290    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

things  the  Senator  says :  "  I  have  presented  to  the  President 
the  duty  of  harmony  between  Congress  and  the  Executive. 
He  is  agreed.  It  is  proposed  to  admit  Louisiana  (which 
ought  not  to  be  done),  and  at  the  same  time  pass  the  recon 
struction  bill  for  all  the  other  States,  giving  the  electoral 
franchise  to  '  all  citizens '  without  distinction  of  color.  If 
this  arrangement  is  carried  out,  it  will  be  an  irrimense  political 
act."  *  A  communication  to  John  Bright,  written  a  few  days 
after  the  above,  January  i,  1865,  confirms  this  view.  On  that 
occasion  Mr.  Sumner  said :  "  The  President  is  exerting  every 
force  to  bring  Congress  to  receive  Louisiana  under  the  Banks 
government.  I  do  not  believe  Louisiana  is  strong  enough  in 
loyalty  and  freedom  for  an  independent  State.  The  evi 
dence  on  this  point  seems  overwhelming.  I  have  discussed  it 
with  the  President,  and  have  tried  to  impress  on  him  the 
necessity  of  having  no  break  between  him  and  Congress  on 
such  questions.  Much  as  I  am  against  the  premature  recogni 
tion  of  Louisiana,  I  will  hold  my  peace  if  I  can  secure  a  rule 
for  other  States,  so  that  we  may  be  saved  from  daily  anxiety 
with  regard  to  their  condition."  2  These  passages  explain  the 
amendment  to  the  revived  bill.  Sumner  was  willing  to  remain 
a  neutral  spectator  of  the  debates  on  the  recognition  of  Louis 
iana  provided  the  reorganization  of  the  remaining  States 
should  be  made  on  the  lines  indicated  by  Congress. 

On  January  16,  Ashley's  bill  was  reached  in  the  regular 
order  of  business;  by  direction  of  the  Committee  on  the  Rebel 
lious  States,  it  was  offered  as  a  substitute  for  the  original 
measure,  from  which  it  differed  in  one  very  important  particu 
lar.  It  expressly  recognized  the  loyal  governments  of  both 
Louisiana  and  Arkansas.  By  unanimous  consent  the  proposed 
enactment,  considered  as  an  original  bill,  was  offered  for  the 

1  Pierce,  Memoir  of  Charles  Sumner,  Vol.  IV.  p.  205. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  221. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  291 

plan  submitted  by  Henry  Winter  Davis  at  the  preceding 
session. 

Representative  William  D.  Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania,  would 
amend  the  clause  providing  for  the  enrollment  of  "  all  the 
white  male  citizens  of  the  United  States  "  by  inserting  the 
words  "  and  all  other  male  citizens  of  the  United  States  who 
may  be  able  to  read  the  Constitution  thereof."  Mr.  Eliot 
then  introduced  the  amendment  of  which  he  had  previously 
given  notice.  By  Representative  Arnold  another  amendment 
was  offered  to  that  of  Eliot. 

Judge  Kelley  opened  the  debate  by  declaring  that  indem 
nity  for  the  past  the  victors  in  the  war  could  not  hope  to 
obtain;  they  could,  however,  demand  security  for  the  future. 
In  a  very  long  speech  he  discussed  the  status  of  the  negro  in 
the  early  days  of  the  Republic;  this  portion  of  his  address 
was  concluded  with  the  remark  that  his  amendment  did  not 
contemplate  that  the  entire  mass  of  people  of  African  descent, 
degraded  and  brutalized  by  laws  and  customs,  be  immediately 
clothed  with  all  the  rights  of  citizenship,  but  only  those  so 
far  fitted  by  education  for  its  judicious  exercise  as  were  able 
to  read  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 
This,  indeed,  he  admitted,  was  only  an  entering  wedge  and 
was  to  be  regarded  as  an  aid  to  their  improvement;  when 
sufficiently  advanced  they  were  to  be  endowed  with  every 
right  necessary  to  their  protection.  A  strong  plea  was  made 
to  confer  the  suffrage  on  the  colored  man;  otherwise,  asked 
the  Pennsylvania  member,  how  will  it  be  possible  to  prevent 
his  subjugation?  He  would  not  rely  on  men's  abstract  sense 
of  justice,  for  that  had  not  prevented  outrages  in  the  past. 
Justice  should  be  embodied  in  laws  and  constitutions  while 
it  was  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  do  so.  That  body  was  to 
determine  who  should  select  delegates  to  the  conventions 
that  were  to  frame  governments  for  the  insurgent  States. 


292   LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  Union  minorities  in  the  South  required  the  political  sup 
port  of  every  loyal  man  in  their  communities.  It  was  the 
power,  he  reminded  Representatives,  not  the  spirit  of  the 
rebellion  that  Federal  armies  were  overthrowing.  In  con 
clusion  he  declared  himself  in  favor  of  conferring  the  suf 
frage  on  "  every  man  who  fights  or  pays/'  a  doctrine  which 
he  ascribed  to  Jefferson,  in  whose  party  he  said  he  had  been 
trained.1 

Mr.  Eliot,  who  spoke  on  January  17,  regretted  that  he  had 
not  been  able  to  support  the  amended  bill  reported  from  the 
select  committee.  Partly  because  of  the  interest,  he  said, 
which  his  friend  Henry  Winter  Davis  took  in  the  subject  he 
came  to  its  consideration  prepossessed  in  its  favor.  The  pro 
visions  of  the  measure  passed  at  the  preceding  session,  how 
ever,  were  not  then  discussed.  There  were  strong  reasons  for 
action  at  that  time  which  no  longer  existed  to  the  same  extent. 
There  was  time  enough  on  the  present  occasion,  January, 
1865,  to  make  it  more  perfect  and  more  practicable  than  the 
plan  offered  by  the  committee. 

Entering  upon  an  examination  of  the  bill  he  declared  that  its 
terms  were  peremptory;  eleven  States  were  in  rebellion,  and  by 
the  first  section  the  President  was  called  upon  to  appoint  for 
each  of  them  a  provisional  governor.  Such  appointments  were 
to  be  made  when  the  measure  became  a  law.  Except  in  Lou 
isiana,  Arkansas  and  Tennessee  these  appointments  would  be 
not  only  useless  but  a  needless  source  of  expense,  and  though 
section  fifteen  recognized  the  governments  established  in  the 
two  former,  the  machinery  of  the  bill  would  be  applied  to  all 
the  States  in  rebellion. 

It  imposed  upon  the  several  governors  proposed  to  be  ap 
pointed  executive  duties  which  they  could  not  assume  until 
the  power  of  the  United  States  had  vindicated  itself  within 
those  States;  there  were  other  duties  which  they  should  not 
1  Globe,  Part  L,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  281-291. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  293 

be  required  to  perform.  They  were  to  see  that  the  laws 
which  were  in  force  in  that  section  in  1860  should  be  faith 
fully  executed,  with  no  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  House 
of  the  import  of  those  laws.  Why  should  Congress  assume 
responsibility  for  enforcing  the  black  code  ?  Why  demand  the 
enforcement,  he  asked,  of  minute  police  regulations  in  States 
where  complexion  appointed  or  reduced  punishment?  Other 
laws  were  specified,  such  as  those  punishing  the  circulation  of 
books  or  writings  advocating  human  rights,  laws  requiring 
the  removal  from  those  States  of  free  persons  of  color,  pro 
hibiting  them  from  engaging  in  business,  and  punishing  by 
the  lash  upon  suspicion  of  false  testimony  and  before  con 
viction.  There  was  a  law,  he  said,  in  one  of  those  States  re 
quiring  the  imprisonment  of  free  colored  sailors  in  her  ports.1 
These  provisions  and  many  others  of  the  same  tenor  were 
contained  in  the  statute  books  of  those  States  in  1860  and 
had  been  enforced.  The  penalty  differed  according  to  color; 
offences  when  committed  by  a  white  man  were  punished  in 
one  way,  and  when  committed  by  colored  men  in  another  way. 
The  provisional  governor  was  charged  with  the  faithful  exe 
cution  of  such  laws. 

The  provision  for  the  assessment  and  collection  of  taxes 
he  characterized  as  a  remarkable  proposition;  they  were  to  be 
imposed  without  representation,  without  any  persons  at  the 
national  capital  to  enlighten  Congress  on  the  subject;  they 
were  to  be  laid  without  the  knowledge  of  the  parties  con 
cerned  or  the  parties  to  be  affected. 

The  sixth  section,  he  continued,  provided  that  every  per 
son  who  should  thereafter  hold  certain  offices  in  the  Con 
federacy  was  "  declared  not  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States."  That,  Mr.  Eliot  contended,  was  applying  the  pun- 

1  An  interesting  account  of  the  imprisonment  of  colored  seamen  in  the 
ports  of  South  Carolina  is  given  in  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power 
in  America,  Vol.  I.  pp.  576-586. 


±94    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

ishment  before  the  offence  had  been  committed.  If  Congress 
declared  that  a  man  should  for  a  certain  offence  be  deprived 
of  citizenship,  could  he,  then,  be  indicted  for  treason  subse 
quently  committed  ? 

The  question  of  electing  delegates  to  constitutional  con 
ventions  presented  a  practical  difficulty.  Colored  soldiers  and 
sailors  in  the  service  were  made  voters  by  the  bill;  but  they 
were  not  enrolled,  they  were  not  registered  or  credited  to  any 
county  or  parish;  they  were  aggregated.  They  had  no  legal 
local  habitation.  They  may  have  belonged  to  men  owning 
plantations  in  several  districts.  The  bill  did  not  designate. 
With  the  white  soldier  the  case  was  different,  for  he  was 
known  to  belong  to  a  certain  district.  If  colored  men  entitled, 
because  of  military  or  naval  service,  to  participate  in  the 
choice  of  delegates  should  be  out  of  the  service  before  the 
election  occurred,  and  others  should  have  taken  their  places, 
which  class  could  vote,  those  in  the  service  of  the  Government 
when  the  election  for  delegates  took  place,  or  those  serving 
when  the  bill  passed  Congress? 

Whether  the  difficulties  pointed  out  were  inseparable  from 
any  bill  on  the  subject,  he  would  not  undertake  to  say.  But 
in  his  judgment  it  would  be  unsafe  for  Congress  to  permit 
a  measure  containing  such  provisions  to  become  a  law. 
"  Why,"  he  asked,  "  is  it  not  more  wise  to  take  the  States  as 
they  shall  present  themselves  for  admission  ?  "  Arkansas  had 
acted  in  one  way,  Louisiana  in  another,  and  Tennessee  was 
proceeding  in  still  a  different  manner. 

Notwithstanding  his  objections  to  some  features  of  the 
Louisiana  constitution,  he  favored  her  recognition.  From 
information  derived  from  the  highest  sources,  he  had  no 
doubt  that  her  Legislature  would  supply  such  deficiencies. 
There  were  influences  bearing  on  that  body  which  he  'be 
lieved  could  not  be  resisted. 

Thaddeus  Stevens  inquired,  "  If  Louisiana  and  those  other 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  295 

States  are  in  the  Union,  by  what  authority  do  we  legislate 
for  their  internal  police  ?  "  This  provoked  laughter  on  the 
Democratic  side  of  the  House.  "  If  they  are  in  the  Union," 
answered  Mr.  Eliot,  "  just  as  Pennsylvania  is,  we  ought  not 
to;  but  the  difficulty  is  that  they  are  not  in  the  Union  in  that 
sense,  to  that  extent,  thus  fully.  They  are  not  out  of  the 
Union  territorially,  and  yet  rebellion  has  overthrown  their 
governments  for  a  time,  and  it  is  needful  that  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  should  intervene  and  should  legislate." 
To  this  the  Pennsylvania  leader  further  observed,  "  I  under 
stand  the  gentleman  to  say  that  they  are  partly  in  the  Union, 
and  partly  out.  About  how  much  are  they  in  the  Union  and 
about  how  much  out  ?  "  This  keen  thrust  was  greeted  by 
more  laughter  from  the  Democratic  members.1 

On  his  motion  to  postpone  further  consideration  for  two 
weeks  Mr.  Wilson  demanded  the  previous  question.  Henry 
Winter  Davis  appealed  to  him  to  withdraw  the  motion.  This 
Mr.  Wilson  declined  to  do,  upon  which  the  Maryland  mem 
ber  observed,  "  a  vote  to  postpone  is  equivalent  to  a  vote 
to  kill  the  bill."  By  103  yeas  to  34  nays,  however,  further 
debate  was  postponed  till  the  ist  of  February  succeeding.2 

Though  Representative  Washburne,  of  Illinois,  moved  on 
February  7  a  further  postponement  of  two  weeks,  the  sub 
ject  was  before  the  House  again  on  the  following  day,  when 
it  went  over  informally.  Debate  was  not  resumed  till  the 
20th,  when  Mr.  Dawes,  of  Massachusetts,  took  the  floor. 

The  Thirty-eighth  Congress,  he  said,  was  in  the  last  days 
of  its  last  session;  a  bill  containing  the  main  features  of  the 
measure  under  consideration,  though  it  passed  both  Houses, 
failed  at  the  preceding  session  to  become  a  law;  this  circum 
stance  led  him  to  make  a  careful  examination  of  the  subject. 
The  proposed  enactment  was  not  designed  to  invigorate  the 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  298-301. 
'Ibid. 


296     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

army,  the  navy  or  the  Executive;  it  was  intended  rather  to 
follow  the  army.  It  was  intended  to  be  applied  to  the  condi 
tion  in  which  the  army  left  the  State.  "  It  is  an  attempt," 
he  said,  "  to  gather  up  the  l  disjecta  membra  '  of  those  States, 
the  broken  and  torn  fragments  of  those  communities,  and  out 
of  the  chaos,  as  well  as  the  ruins  and  debris  that  are  left  in 
the  march  of  those  armies,  to  create  a  State  capable  of  dis 
charging  the  functions,  exercising  the  authority,  and  invoking 
the  recognition  of  this  Government,  and  of  the  people  under 
which  it  lives.  .  . 

"  ...;  ,-  .  The  bill  proceeds  upon  the  supposition  not 
only  that  there  are  States  still  existing,  but  that  their  old  con 
stitutions  and  laws  are  still  in  full  force  and  operation  " ;  for 
it  imposed  upon  the  provisional  governor  the  faithful  execu 
tion  of  those  laws  in  force  when  rebellion  overthrew  their 
State  governments,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  provision 
touching  the  enforcement  of  laws  against  slavery  and  the 
mode  of  trial  and  punishment  of  colored  people.  Two  re 
markable  features  of  the  bill,  he  asserted,  were  those  em 
powering  the  Executive  in  Washington,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  appoint  governors  in 
every  one  of  those  States;  then,  no  matter  what  provisions 
for  their  election  existed  in  the  State  law,  the  President  was 
authorized  to  appoint  just  as  many  and  just  as  few  officers  as 
he  pleased.  It  might  be  a  judge  of  the  highest  court  of 
judicature  in  the  State;  or  it  might  be  the  humblest  road- 
master;  it  might  be  any  one  or  all  of  the  countless  corps 
between  them.  There  was  no  provision  in  the  bill  that  they 
should  be  even  residents  of  the  State.  "  An  army  of  officers," 
he  continued,  "  in  one  paragraph  of  four  lines,  is  here  created, 
subject  to  the  sole  authority  and  control  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States."  In  a  Confederate  report  Mr.  Dawes  no 
ticed  that  there  were  13,000  of  them  in  a  single  State. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  297 

"  What,"  he  asked,  "  is  the  effect  to  be  on  the  people  over 
whom,  from  every  quarter  of  this  Union,  broken-down  poli 
ticians,  men  without  place,  foot-loose,  are  to  be  placed? 
Sir,  it  is  a  reproach  to  our  Government  at  this  hour  that 
there  are,  about  this  capital  and  in  the  Northern  States, 
tnen  who  have  been  appointed  to  the  judgeships  of  district 
and  other  courts  of  the  rebel  States  and  Territories,  drawing 
quarterly  the  salaries  of  those  offices,  although  they  have 
never  been  able,  from  the  hour  they  received  their  commis 
sions  to  the  present  moment  to  set  foot  in  the  States  over 
whose  courts  they  have  been  appointed.  They  could  not  go 
one  rod  into  the  State,  positions  in  whose  highest  courts  they 
have  held  for  more  than  a  year,  without  being  hung  on  the 
first  tree.  .  .  .  But  my  friend  [Mr.  Ashley]  has  re 
ported  a  bill  here  which  authorizes  an  army  of  thousands  of 
these  officeholders  to  go  into  those  States,  with  commissions 
from  this  capital  in  their  pockets,  to  lord  it  over  the  poor, 
miserable  inhabitants  left  behind  the  army  there.  These 
rebel  States  may  be  thus  converted  into  asylums  for  broken- 
down  politicians." 

In  the  language  of  indignation  he  entered  into  a  criti 
cism  of  that  policy  which  proposed  to  levy  on  the  house 
less  and  homeless  wanderers  in  the  South,  even  then  only 
saved  from  starvation  by  the  charity  of  the  North,  precisely 
the  same  amount  of  taxes  raised  in  1860  when,  by  com 
parison,  the  people  were  in  a  princely  state.  "  Sir,"  he 
declared,  "  there  is  not  an  army,  great  as  our  army  is,  that 
has  power  enough  to  accomplish  that  one  single  feat  provided 
for  in  this  bill,  for  the  very  plain  reason  that  there  is  not 
money  enough  left  in  any  one  of  these  States  outside  the 
Government  with  which  to  pay  that  round  sum  for  one  single 
year.  , .,  .  .  This  wise,  efficacious  policy  is  resorted  to 
in  this  bill  to  hasten  on,  I  suppose,  that  other  day  mentioned 


298    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

in  it,  when  a  majority  of  these  people,  molded  by  this  process, 
won  by  its  benignity  '  shall  voluntarily  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance/ ' 

He  asserted,  as  Eliot  had  done,  that  the  committee  were 
calling  upon  Congress  to  sanction  all  the  black  codes  of  those 
States,  save  only  that  part  which  held  men  in  bondage,  and 
that  was  allowed  to  enforce  itself. 

The  omissions,  he  asserted,  were  not  less  remarkable  than 
the  provisions  of  the  bill.  The  state  of  things  established  by 
it  was  of  indefinite  duration.  There  was  no  provision  for  the 
peculiar  conditions  existing  there.  "  There  is  no  attempt  at 
any  adaptation  of  these  laws  to  the  new  state  of  things  con 
sequent  upon  the  rebellion,  and  consequent  upon  our  consti 
tutional  action  here.  Not  only  is  there  no  provision  for  the 
new  wants  and  necessities  of  this  wasted  and  wretched  people 
who  have  been  involved  in  the  rebellion,  but  for  that  other 
people  who  have  now  passed  into  freedom  by  our  legislation, 
and  by  the  military  consequences  of  this  rebellion,  who  are 
now  without  food,  without  subsistence,  without  knowledge, 
and  without  opportunity  to  support  and  maintain  themselves; 
yes,  sir,  without  homes,  literally  without  where  to  lay  their 
heads."  There  were  3,000,000  of  these  people,  he  added, 
whose  very  existence  was  ignored  by  the  bill;  there  was  no 
provision  for  schools;  no  provision  for  even  a  poorhouse; 
no  provision  to  teach  them  the  arts  of  civilization,  no  pro 
vision  for  kindling  in  them  hope,  for  holding  up  before  them 
incentives  to  industry  or  securing  to  them  its  reward.  Under 
the  operations  of  the  bill  they  were  the  objects  of  free  plun 
der;  they  were  to  go  forth  to  be  hunted,  despoiled  and  per 
secuted  :  outcasts  in  the  land. 

By  the  bill  it  was  left  in  the  discretion  of  the  provisional 
governor,  he  asserted,  to  terminate  the  system  set  over  them. 
He,  as  well  as  the  army  of  officeholders  under  him,  would  be 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  299 

interested  in  prolonging  the  period  until  the  people  had  suf 
ficiently  returned  to  their  obedience.  Before  the  initiatory 
steps  could  be  taken,  even  if  the  provisional  governor  were 
willing,  a  majority  of  the  people  in  each  State  must  of  their 
own  choice  signify  their  loyalty  by  taking  the  oath  of  alle 
giance.  This  made  the  matter  dependent  not  upon  the  wish  of 
the  loyal,  but  of  the  disloyal  persons  who  constituted  the 
majority  in  those  States. 

The  plan,  he  further  stated,  ignored  the  principle  that  the 
American  people  have  the  right  to  shape  and  alter  for  them 
selves  the  rules  by  which  they  are  to  be  governed.  If  the 
matter  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  disloyal,  the  time  would 
be  far  distant  when  Union  governments  would  be  instituted 
in  those  States.  The  only  wise  policy  was  to  establish  a 
government  among  the  loyal;  even  though  it  might  be  weak 
and  inefficient  at  first,  it  would  finally  win  back  those  who 
desired  to  be  reconciled.  The  other  numerous  class,  those 
who  deserved  to  be  hanged,  were  not  provided  for  in  the 
bill.  He  was  opposed  to  the  provision  which  would  turn  over 
to  insurgents  the  loyal  minorities  in  those  States,  and  was  not 
less  opposed  to  prescribing  a  fixed  iron  rule  by  conformity  to 
which  alone  out  of  chaos  and  anarchy  might  be  made  a  loyal 
government. 

Further,  the  bill  proceeded  upon  the  assumption  that  there 
was  no  power  in  these  people,  except  what  was  conferred  on 
them  by  Federal  legislation,  to  establish  State  governments. 
This  he  denied,  and  the  authors  of  the  proposed  measure,  by 
offering  to  recognize  the  establishments  otherwise  organized 
in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  had  conceded  as  much.  In 
the  people,  he  said,  and  in  them  alone,  existed  the  author 
ity  to  form  an  organic  law  subject  to  the  constitutional 
provision  that  the  government  should  be  republican  in  form. 
He  favored  a  recognition  of  the  Louisiana  government  not 


300    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

because  it  was  formed  under  the  guidance  of  General  Banks, 
but  because  it  was  made  by  the  loyal  people  of  that  State, 
was  acquiesced  in  by  them,  and  because  under  it  they  were 
building  up  a  loyal  government. 

Governors  Hahn  and  Murphy  and  the  officials  chosen  in 
Louisiana  and  Arkansas  who  had  been  exercising  their  func 
tions  for  a  year  would  be  dispossessed  by  foreigners  sent 
amongst  them  by  the  President,  who  was  empowered  to  do  so 
by  the  bill;  bickerings,  heartburnings  and  discontent  would 
follow  any  attempt  to  enforce  this  policy.  Sooner  or  later 
the  people  of  those  States  must  be  allowed  to  form  govern 
ments  for  themselves,  protected  by  the  parental  care  of  the 
central  authority.1 

Fernando  Wood  declared  that  he  had  listened  with  interest 
and  pleasure  to  words  of  conciliation  for  the  South;  little 
but  subjugation,  devastation  and  annihilation  had  thus  far 
been  heard  from  the  party,  the  Administration  and  the  people 
represented  by  Mr.  Dawes. 

The  seceding  States,  Mr.  Wood  contended,  had  republican 
forms  of  government  which  the  treason  of  individuals  did  not 
affect.  Nor  did  individual  crimes  destroy  the  rights  of  the 
people  to  regulate  their  domestic  institutions.  The  forms  of 
government  were  the  same  as  those  that  existed  in  the  re 
bellious  States  six  years  before.  Even  admitting  that  they 
had  not  such  governments  in  existence  among  them,  the  bill 
did  not  provide  a  republican  form  of  government  for  those 
States.2 

He  was  followed  in  opposition  to  the  proposed  enactment 
by  Mr.  LeBlond,  of  Ohio,  who  discussed  both  the  status  of 
the  rebellious  States  and  their  form  of  government.  His 
speech  on  the  former  question  added  nothing  of  value  to  what 
Representative  Pendleton  had  said  at  the  preceding  session, 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  934-937- 
'Ibid.,  pp.  937-939- 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  301 

nor  did  he  enter  upon  so  able  an  examination  of  the  clause 
guaranteeing  a  republican  form  of  government  as  did  Senator 
Carlile  on  that  occasion. 

Henry  T.  Blow,  of  Missouri,  made  an  appeal  for  the  admis 
sion  of  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  to  prevent  destructive  mili 
tary  raids  into  those  States  as  well  as  his  own.  He  would 
support  any  measure  that  would  restore  them  and  strengthen 
their  loyal  population.  However,  he  did  not  favor  negro 
suffrage.  His  remarks  scarcely  touched  the  measure  before 
the  House.1 

Joseph  K.  Edgerton,  of  Indiana,  who  followed  in  a  lengthy 
speech  in  opposition,  said : 

The  forerunner  of  this  measure  of  legislation,  so  far  as  this  House  is 
concerned,  may  be  found  in  the  territorial  bill  reported  by  the  gentleman 
from  Ohio  [Mr.  Ashley]  from  the  Committee  on  Territories  in  the 
Thirty-seventh  Congress,  in  March,  1862.  It  was  aptly  termed  at  the 
time  by  the  gentleman's  colleague  from  the  Cincinnati  district  of  Ohio 
[Mr.  Pendleton]  "  A  bill  to  dissolve  the  Union  and  abolish  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States."  The  bill  was  summarily,  if  not  indig 
nantly,  rejected  by  the  House  without  a  second  reading.  But,  sir,  men 
and  events  have  since  changed,  if  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
has  not  changed,  and  the  stone  of  revolutionary  reconstruction  then 
rejected  by  the  masterbuilders  in  this  House  bids  fair  to  become  the 
head  of  the  corner.  Then  the  Constitution  was  not  altogether  repudiated 
as  the  .foundation  of  our  legislation;  now  revolutionary  opinions  and 
plans  override  it  as  a  thing  of  the  past.  Not  many  are  there  in  this 
Congress,  and  fewer  there  will  be  in  the  next,  I  fear,  to  do  reverence  to 
the  Constitution  and  obey  its  commands. 

The  President's  proclamation  of  December  8,  1863,  was 
then  noticed,  and  his  usurpation  of  authority  denounced;  the 
subject  of  the  Louisiana  government  was  also  entered  upon 
and  fully  discussed.  He  next  referred  to  the  introduction 
early  in  the  preceding  session  of  a  resolution  by  Henry  Winter 
Davis  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  special  committee 
authorized  to  report  a  bill  guaranteeing  a  republican  form  of 
government  to  the  rebellious  States.  The  fate  of  that  billr 
1  Appendix  to  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  73-75- 


302     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

President  Lincoln's  proclamation  concerning  it,  and  the  pro 
test  of  Wade  and  Davis  were  successively  dwelt  upon. 

The  question  between  the  President  and  his  two  Con 
gressional  friends,  Wade  and  Davis,  was  to  Mr.  Edgerton's 
mind  "  one  between  two  usurping  powers,  the  Executive  and 
the  Legislative";  but,  he  continued,  "I  am  free  to  say  my 
sympathies  were  with  the  legislators  and  not  with  the  Presi 
dent.  Executive  edicts  have  done  more  than  acts  of  Con 
gress  during  the  last  four  years  to  sap  the  foundations  and 
remove  the  landmarks  of  the  Constitution."  The  majority  in 
Congress,  he  asserted,  by  consenting  to  recognize  the  govern 
ments  of  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  kissed  the  hand  that  smote 
them. 

He  opposed  a  recognition  of  the  Louisiana  government 
because  of  its  unconstitutional  origin;  Arkansas,  he  said, 
differed  from  it  in  no  material  respect.  After  stating  the 
provisions  of  the  bill  he  gave  the  following  summary  of  its 
effects : 

1.  To  take  from  the  people  of  the  State  all  power  to  initiate  proceedings 
to  reorganize  their  own  State  government  in  harmony  with  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States,  or  even  to  prescribe  the  qualifications  of 
suffrage.    The  bill  ignores  the  idea  that  there  is  any  "ital  power  in  the 
people  to  restore  their  State  government  —  not  only  taken  from  them  by 
rebellion  but  kept  from  them  by  Federal  power —  .  .  . 

2.  The  effect  is  to  exclude  from  the  reorganization  the  entire  white 
population  of  the  State  who  shall  have  held  office  or  voluntarily  borne 
arms  against  the  United  States,  or  who  shall  not  take  the  oath  of  July 
2,  1862. 

3.  To  confine  the  right  of  suffrage  and  power  of  reorganization  to 
enrolled  men  and  Federal  soldiers  taking  the  oath;  and  the  law  affords 
no  guaranty  that  even  the  enrollment  shall  embrace  a  majority  of  males 
over  twenty-one  years  of  age.    The  majority  required  as  a  basis  of  action 
is  so  many  of  enrolled  persons  taking  the  oath  as,  with  the  soldiers, 
shall   constitute   a    majority    of   the   persons    enrolled;    that    majority, 
through  defect  or  fraud  in  enrollment,  may  be  not  even  one  tenth  of  the 
males  of  the  State  over  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

4.  The  effect  is  the  absolute  disfranchisement  of  eleven  States  and  their 
continuance  in  a  state  of  war  until  they  accept  "  the  abandonment  of 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  303 

slavery,"  as  dictated  to  them  by  the  United  States,  and  until  by  organic 
law  they  declare  that  all  persons  shall  have  "  equality  of  civil  rights  be 
fore  the  law  "  of  the  State ;  a  well-seeming  phrase  of  broad  import ;  the 
precise  meaning  of  which  I  do  not  understand.  A  woman  is  a  person, 
a  negro  is  a  person,  an  alien  is  a  person,  and  the  right  of  suffrage  is  a 
civil  right.  Does  this  high-sounding  phrase  of  the  bill  mean  that  women, 
negroes,  and  aliens  shall  have  equal  right  to  vote  in  a  regenerated  State 
with  white  male  citizens  ?  What  does  "  equality  of  civil  rights  before 
the  law  for  all  persons  "  mean  ? 


In  fact  and  in  purpose,  then,  the  bill  before  the  House  is  one  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  United  States,  and  to  enfranchise  and  elevate 
negroes,  and  to  disfranchise  and  degrade  white  men;  a  bill  to  change 
the  social  and  industrial  systems  and  internal  policy  of  eleven  States; 
a  bill  to  take  from  those  States  their  inherent  reserved  constitutional 
right  to  regulate  in  their  own  way  their  internal  policy,  not  inconsistent 
with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  bill  to  punish  treason 
without  trial  or  conviction;  a  bill  to  confiscate  private  property  without 
adequate  compensation;  in  short,  a  bill  to  reconstruct  States  and  make 
State  constitutions,  when  in  truth  no  States  or  their  constitutions  have 
been  destroyed,  or  need  reconstruction,  unless  by  the  voluntary  action  of 
their  own  people. 

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .          . 

If  this  is  a  revolutionary  Congress,  you  have  a  revolutionary  power 
to  pass  this  bill;  but  if  it  be,  as  I  am  bound  by  my  oath  o£  office  to 
believe  and  assert,  a  Congress  sitting  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  having  no  powers  outside  of  or  unknown  to  it,  then 
you  cannot  constitutionally  pass  this  bill. 

He  stated  further  that  the  bill  "  embodies  a  spirit  and 
purpose  toward  the  Southern  people  which,  if  impolitic  and 
vindictive  one  year  ago,  when  the  bill  first  came  before  the 
House,  and  when  our  enemy  was  far  stronger  and  more 
defiant  than  now,  is  still  more  impolitic  and  vindictive  at  this 
time,  when  the  minds  of  all  good  men  are  searching  diligently 
for  ways  of  reconciliation  and  peace." 

In  conclusion  he  declared :  "  The  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  the  legislative  power  of  the  Union,  and  the  Con 
stitution,  is  asked  by  this  bill  to  be  the  minister  and  execu 
tioner  of  the  great  revenge  of  section  upon  section,  States 


304    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

North  upon  States  South.  For  one,  sir,  I  wa'sh  my  hands  of 
the  deed."  l 

The  passages  quoted  convey  no  adequate  idea  of  the  able 
and  comprehensive  character  of  Mr.  Edgerton's  speech.  It 
•was  concerned  not  only  with  the  subject  under  discussion, 
but  extended  to  a  rather  searching  examination  of  Republican 
professions  in  1861  and  the  revolutionary  practices  of  a  later 
time.  It  was  marked  throughout  by  perfect  temper,  but  was 
not  on  that  account  less  effective.  Any  extension  of  time, 
however,  even  twenty  minutes,  was  denied  him  by  the 
majority. 

At  this  point,  February  21,  Ashley  withdrew  a  motion  he 
had  previously  made  to  recommit  the  bill,  and  by  authority 
of  his  committee  withdrew  the  measure  which  was  the  origi 
nal  text  and,  in  lieu  thereof,  introduced  another.  With  this 
substitution  the  pending  amendments  fell.  Representative 
Wilson  desired  his  substitute  to  hold  its  original  place. 
Messrs.  Wilson,  Kelley  and  Eliot  then  modified  their  amend 
ments  to  the  measure  hitherto  under  discussion,  and  Ashley 
explained  his  action  in  a  brief  address. 

He  referred  to  the  bill  which  at  the  preceding  session 
failed  to  receive  the  President's  approval.  Since  then  he  had 
labored  earnestly  to  conciliate  members  on  his  side  of  the 
House  who  had  scruples  about  the  measure  as  it  originally 
passed,  and,  if  possible,  obtain  a  united  vote  in  its  favor. 
For  that  purpose  he  consented  to  a  compromise  in  providing 
for  the  recognition  of  Louisiana,  Arkansas  and  Tennessee. 
The  conditions  were  not  such  as  he  would  prescribe  if  those 
States  stood  alone.  But  in  order  to  secure  what  he  thought 
of  paramount  importance  —  universal  suffrage  to  the  liberated 
black  men  of  the  South  —  he  consented  to  insert  in  the  bill 
which  he  had  proposed  a  few  days  previously,  a  conditional 
recognition  of  existing  governments  in  the  States  of  Louisiana 

1  Appendix  to  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  75-83. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  305 

and  Arkansas,  and  the  government  then  being  organized  in 
Tennessee. 

Disappointed  in  his  efforts  to  win  the  cooperation  of 
Representatives  who  entertained  practically  the  same  opin 
ions  which  he  did  in  favor  of  universal  suffrage  for  the  colored 
man,  and  in  favor  of  the  early  recognition  of  every  Confeder 
ate  State  with  a  population  sufficient  to  maintain  a  govern 
ment,  he  now  declined  to  offer  his  substitute.  At  the  request 
and  with  the  concurrence  of  his  committee  the  bill  of  the 
preceding  session  was  offered  with  some  modifications.  These 
alterations  were  to  strike  out  all  that  the  bill  contained  to 
which  gentlemen  had  raised  objection,  in  that  it  seemingly 
authorized  the  execution  of  State  laws  as  they  existed  at  the 
commencement  of  the  rebellion.  To  make  it  perfectly  clear 
what  the  committee  intended,  they  had  inserted  a  provision 
that  the  governor  should  execute  only  such  laws  as  related  to 
the  protection  of  persons  and  property;  that  all  laws  incon 
sistent  with  the  proposed  enactment,  and  all  laws  recognizing 
the  relation  of  master  and  slave,  should  not  be  enforced.  The 
section  which  authorized  the  collection  of  taxes  had  been 
omitted.  He  preferred  not  to  commit  himself  to  a  recog 
nition  of  the  Louisiana  and  Arkansas  governments,  unless 
he  could  secure  what  he  thought  of  paramount  importance 
in  reorganizing  the  other  States. 

"  It  is  very  clear  to  my  mind,"  he  asserted,  "  that  no  bill 
providing  for  the  reorganization  of  loyal  State  governments 
in  the  rebel  States  can  pass  this  Congress.  I  am  pretty  sure 
that  this  bill  and  all  the  amendments  and  substitutes  offered 
will  fail  to  command  a  majority  of  this  House." 

The  course  of  debate  had  shown  on  the  Republican  side, 
he  said,  so  strong  an  individuality  that  no  compromise  could 
bring  them  together  on  the  great  question  of  reconstruction. 
Many  on  his  side  were  capital  leaders  in  the  minority;  they 
were  good  at  pulling  down,  but  not  so  good  at  leading 


306    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

majorities  and  building  up.  He  admitted  their  utter  inability 
to  agree  on  the  subject,  and  had  consented  to  a  conditional 
recognition  of  certain  State  governments  because  he  knew 
they  could  be  upheld  by  military  power  until  the  rebellion 
should  be  crushed.  Republicans  were  so  nearly  unanimous 
at  the  preceding  session,  he  said,  that  he  felt  the  concessions 
embodied  in  his  substitute  would  enable  them  to  agree  without 
much  discussion  or  without  consuming  the  valuable  time  of 
the  House  so  late  in  the  session.  His  remarks  not  only 
showed  disappointment  at  the  attitude  of  his  party,  but 
clearly  revealed  the  existence  of  a  schism  in  its  ranks.1 

Henry  Winter  Davis  then  rose  to  state  the  case  for  the 
House.  The  bill,  he  said,  to  which  amendments  were  pend 
ing  was  the  same  as  that  which  at  the  preceding  session  re 
ceived  the  assent  of  both  Houses  of  Congress,  with  some 
modifications  to  suit  the  tender  susceptibilities  of  gentlemen 
from  Massachusetts :  "  first,  the  sixth  section,  declaring  rebel 
officers  not  citizens  of  the  United  States,  has  been  stricken 
out;  second,  the  taxation  clause  has  been  stricken  out;  third, 
the  word  '  government '  has  been  inserted  before  '  trial  and 
punishment/  to  meet  the  refined  criticisms  of  the  two  gentle 
men  from  Massachusetts  who  suppose  that  penal  laws  would 
be  in  force  and  operative  when  the  penalties  were  forbidden 
to  be  enforced;  that  discriminating  laws  could  survive  the 
declaration  that  there  should  be  no  discrimination  between 
different  persons  in  trial  or  punishment.  There  has  been 
one  section  added  to  meet  the  present  aspect  of  public  affairs ; 
that  section  authorizes  the  President,  instead  of  pursuing  the 
method  prescribed  in  the  bill  in  reference  to  the  States  where 
military  resistance  shall  have  been  suppressed,  in  the  event 
of  the  legislative  authority  under  the  rebellion  in  any  rebel 
State  taking  the  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  annulling  their  confiscation  laws  and  ratifying 
1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  968-969. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  307 

the  amendment  proposed  by  this  Congress  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  before  military  resistance  shall  be  sup 
pressed  in  such  State,  to  recognize  them  as  constituting  the 
legal  authority  of  the  State,  and  directing  him  to  report  those 
facts  to  Congress  for  its  assent  and  ratification.  With  these 
modifications,  the  bill  which  is  now  the  test  for  amendment  is 
the  bill  which  was  adopted  by  this  House  at  the  last  session." 

He  need  not  be  at  the  trouble,  he  said,  to  answer  the  argu 
ments  of  gentlemen  who  at  the  preceding  session  voted  for 
the  bill,  and  who,  in  the  repose  of  the  intervening  period, 
had  criticised  in  detail  the  language  and,  not  stopping  there, 
had  found  in  its  substance  that  it  violated  the  principles  of 
republican  government  and  sanctioned  the  enormities  of  those 
laws  with  which  slavery  had  covered  and  defiled  the  statutes 
of  every  Southern  State. 

With  increasing  severity  Mr.  Davis  proceeded : 

That  these  discoveries  should  have  been  made  since  the  vote  of  last 
session  is  quite  as  remarkable  as  that  they  should  have  been  overlooked 
before  that  vote.  But  they  were  neither  overlooked  before  nor  discovered 
since.  The  vote  was  before  a  pending  election.  It  is  the  will  of  the 
President  which  has  been  discovered  since. 

It  is  not  at  all  surprising,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  President,  having 
failed  to  sign  the  bill  passed  by  the  whole  body  of  his  supporters  by  both 
Houses  at  the  last  session  of  Congress,  and  having  assigned,  under 
pressure  of  events,  but  without  the  authority  of  law,  reasons,  good  or 
bad,  first  for  refusing  to  allow  the  bill  to  become  a  law,  and  therefore 
usurping  power  to  execute  parts  of  it  as  law,  while  he  discarded  other 
parts  which  interfered  with  possible  electoral  votes,  those  arguments 
should  be  found  satisfactory  to  some  minds  prone  to  act  upon  the 
winking  of  authority. 

The  weight  of  that  species  of  argument  I  am  not  able  to  estimate.  It 
"bids  defiance  to  every  species  of  reply.  It  is  that  subtle,  pervading  epi 
demic  of  the  time  that  penetrates  the  closest  argument  as  spirit  pene 
trates  matter  that  diffuses  itself  with  the  atmosphere  of  authority,  relax 
ing  the  energy  of  the  strong,  bending  down  the  upright,  diverting  just 
men  from  the  path  of  rectitude,  and  substituting  the  will  and  favor 
of  power  for  the  will  and  interest  of  the  people  as  the  rule  of  legislative 
action. 


308    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

All  I  desire  now  to  do  is  to  state  the  case  and  predict  results  from 
one  course  or  the  other.  The  course  of  military  events  seems  to  indicate 
that  possibly  by  the  4th  of  next  July,  probably  by  next  December, 
organized,  armed  rebellion  will  cease  to  lift  its  brazen  front  in  the  land. 
Disasters  may  intervene;  errors  or  weaknesses  may  prolong  the  con 
flict;  the  proverbial  chances  of  war  may  interpose  their  caprices  to 
defer  the  national  triumph ;  but  events  now  point  to  the  near  approach  of 
the  end.  But  whether  sooner  or  later,  whenever  it  comes,  there  is  one 
thing  that  will  assuredly  accompany  it.  If  this  bill  do  not  become  a  law, 
when  Congress  again  meets,  at  our  doors,  clamorous  and  dictatorial, 
will  be  sixty-five  Representatives  from  the  States  now  in  rebellion,  and 
twenty-two  Senators,  claiming  admission,  and,  upon  the  theory  of  the 
honorable  gentleman,  entitled  to  admission  beyond  the  power  of  argument 
to  resist  it;  for  peace  will  have  been  restored,  there  will  be  no  armed 
power  but  that  of  the  United  States ;  there  will  be  quiet,  and  votes  will 
be  polled  under  the  existing  laws  of  the  State,  in  the  gentleman's  view. 
Are  you  ready  to  accept  that  consequence?  For  if  they  come  to  the 
door  of  the  House  they  will  cross  the  threshold  of  the  House,  and  any 
gentleman  who  does  not  know  that,  or  who  is  so  weak  or  so  wild  as  to 
suppose  that  any  declaratory  resolution  adopted  by  both  Houses  as  a 
condition  precedent  can  stop  that  flood,  had  better  put  his  puny  hands 
across  the  flood  of  the  flowing  Mississippi  and  say  that  it  shall  not 
enter  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

There  are  things,  gentlemen,  that  are  possible  at  one  time  and  not 
possible  at  another.  You  can  now  prevent  the  rise  of  the  flood,  but 
when  it  is  up  you  can  not  stop  it.  If  gentlemen  are  in  favor  of  meeting 
that  state  of  things,  then  do  as  has  been  already  so  distinctly  intimated 
in  the  course  of  this  debate,  vote  against  this  bill  in  all  its  aspects; 
leave  the  door  wide  open;  let  "our  brethren  of  the  South,"  whose 
bayonets  are  now  pointed  at  our  brothers'  hearts,  drop  their  arms,  put  on 
the  seemly  garb  of  peace,  go  through  the  forms  of  an  election,  and 
assert  the  triumph  of  their  beaten  faction  under  the  forms  of  political 
authority  after  the  sword  has  decided  against  them.  I  am  no  prophet, 
but  that  is  the  history  of  next  December  if  this  bill  be  defeated;  and  I 
expect  it  not  to  become  a  law. 

But  suppose  the  other  course  to  be  pursued;  suppose  the  President 
sees  fit  to  do  what  there  is  not  the  least  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
desires  to  do;  suppose  that  after  he  has  destroyed  the  armies  in  the 
field  he  should  go  further,  and  do,  as  I  think  he  ought  to  do,  what  the 
judgment  of  this  country  dictates,  treat  those  who  hold  power  in  the 
South  as  rebels  and  not  as  governors  or  legislators ;  disperse  them  from 
the  halls  of  legislation ;  expel  them  from  executive  mansions,  strip  them 
of  the  emblems  of  authority,  and  set  to  work  to  hunt  out  the  pliant  and 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  309 

supple  "  Union  men,"  so-called,  who  have  cringed  before  the  storm, 
but  who  will  be  willing  to  govern  their  fellow-citizens  under  the  pro 
tection  of  United  States  bayonets;  suppose  that  the  fruitful  example 
of  Louisiana  shall  spread  like  a  mist  over  all  the  rest  of  the  southern 
country,  and  that  Representatives  like  what  Louisiana  has  sent  here, 
with  such  a  backing  of  votes  as  she  has  given,  shall  appear  here  at  the 
doors  of  this  Hall;  whose  representatives  are  they?  I  do  not  mean  to 
speak  of  the  gentlemen  now  here  from  Louisiana  in  their  individual 
character,  but  in  their  political  relations  to  their  constituency.  Whose 
representatives  are  they?  In  Louisiana  they  are  the  representatives  of 
the  bayonets  of  General  Banks  and  the  will  of  the  President,  as  ex 
pressed  in  his  secret  letter  to  General  Banks.  If  you  admit  such  repre 
sentatives,  you  must  admit,  on  the  same  basis  and  under  the  same 
influences,  Representatives  from  every  State  from  Texas  to  Virginia; 
the  common  council  at  Alexandria — which  has  just  sent  two  Senators 
to  the  other  House  and  has  ratified  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
abolishing  slavery  in  all  the  rest  of  Virginia,  where  none  of  them  dare 
put  his  portly  person  —  would  be  entitled  to  send  ten  Representatives 
here  and  two  Senators  to  speak  for  the  indomitable  "  Old  Dominion." 
If  the  rebel  Representatives  are  not  here  in  December  next  you  will 
have  here  servile  tools  of  the  Executive  who  will  embarrass  your  legisla 
tion,  humble  your  Congress,  degrade  the  name  of  republican  govern 
ment  for  two  years,  and  then  the  natural  majority  of  the  South,  rising 
indignantly  against  that  humiliating  insult,  will  swamp  you  here  with 
rebel  Representatives  and  be  your  masters.  These  are  their  alternatives 
and  there  is  no  middle  ground. 

To  Mr.  Eliot's  objection  the  Maryland  member  replied  that 
provisional  governors  "  are  appointed  now  without  law,  and 
all  we  propose  is  that  they  shall  be  under  the  responsibility 
of  law  and  subject  to  the  control  and  confirmation  of  the 
Senate"  Having  in  mind  this  condition  and  the  Executive 
appointments  to  judicial  places  in  Louisiana,  Mr.  Davis 
added : 

Sir,  when  I  came  into  Congress  ten  years  ago,  this  was  a  Govern 
ment  of  law.  I  have  lived  to  see  it  a  Government  of  personal  will. 
Congress  has  dwindled  from  a  power  to  dictate  law  and  the  policy  of 
the  Government  to  a  commission  to  audit  accounts  and  to  appropriate 
moneys  to  enable  the  Executive  to  execute  his  will  and  not  ours.  I 
would  stop  at  the  boundaries  of  law.  When  I  look  around  for  them  I 


3io    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

seem  to  be  in  a  waste;  they  are  as  clean  gone  as  the  division  fences  of 
Virginia  estates  from  here  to  the  Rapidan. 

After  explaining  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Ashley  and  himself  to 
remove  the  objectionable  features  of  the  bill  as  pointed  out 
by  the  two  members  from  Massachusetts  [Messrs.  Dawes  and 
Eliot]  he  again  criticised  both  with  some  severity,  and  con 
tinued  : 

Sir,  my  successor  may  vote  as  he  pleases.  But  when  I  leave  this  Hall 
there  shall  be  no  vote  from  the  third  congressional  district  of  Maryland 
that  recognizes  anything  but  the  body  and  mass  of  the  people  of  any 
State  as  entitled  to  govern  them,  and  to  govern  the  people  that  I  repre 
sent.  And  they  who  may  wish  to  substitute  one  tenth,  or  any  other 
fractional  minority,  for  that  great  power  of  the  people  to  govern,  may 
take,  and  shall  take,  the  odium.  Ay !  I  shall  brand  it  upon  them  that  in 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  the  only  free  Republic  that  the 
world  knows,  where  alone  the  principles  of  popular  government  are  the 
rules  of  authority,  they  have  gone  to  the  dark  ages  for  their  models, 
reviving  the  wretched  examples  of  the  most  odious  governments  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  propose  to  stain  the  national  triumph  by 
creating  a  wretched,  low,  vulgar,  corrupt,  and  cowardly  oligarchy  to  gov 
ern  the  freemen  of  the  United  States  —  the  national  arms  to  guaranty 
and  enforce  their  oppressions.  Not  by  my  vote,  sir ;  not  by  my  vote ! 

If  the  majority  of  the  people  will  not  recognize  the  authority  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  what  does  the  gentleman  say  who 
proposes  these  declaratory  resolutions?  That  they  shall  come  here 
without  it  ?  No,  sir ;  but  I  would  govern  them  for  a  thousand  years  first 
by  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Constitution  which  they  have  defied  and 
will  not  acknowledge.  And  govern  them  how  ?  Not  by  the  uncontrolled 
will  of  this  or  any  other  President  that  ever  lived,  George  Washington 
included.  I  would  govern  them  by  the  laws  that  in  the  hours  of  their 
sanity  they  enacted,  unaltered  excepting  so  far  as  the  progress  of  events 
require  that  they  should  be  altered ;  to  the  extent  that  we  have  proposed 
to  alter  them  in  our  bill,  and  no  further.  I  leave  their  own  rules  for 
their  government,  make  the  President  appoint,  under  his  official  and 
public  responsibility,  the  officers  who  are  to  execute  them;  and  if  they 
do  not  like  to  be  governed  in  that  way,  let  us  trust  that  the  prodigal  will 
come  one  day  to  his  senses,  and  humbly  kneeling  before  the  Constitution 
that  he  has  vainly  defied,  swear  before  Almighty  God  that  he  will  again 
be  true  to  it. 

That  is  my  remedy  for  the  grievance.    That  is  what  we  propose.   .  .  ,x 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  969-970. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  311 

Though  not  his  last  word  on  the  subject  of  reconstruction, 
this  was  the  last  great  speech  of  Mr.  Davis  in  Congress  on  the 
question  of  restoring  political  power  to  the  rebellious  States. 
His  alliance  with  Stevens,  a  somewhat  unnatural  union,  had 
brought  him  only  disaster.  As  noticed  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  he  had  been  defeated  for  renomination  in  his  district. 
It  is  thought  that  disappointment  hastened  somewhat  his 
early  death,  which  occurred  toward  the  close  of  the  year, 
December  30,  1865.  Though  a  touch  of  pathos  may  be  dis 
cerned  in  his  concluding  remarks,  his  was  not  the  craven 
spirit  that  was  ready,  in  the  words  of  Edgerton,  to  kiss  the 
hand  that  smote  him. 

Representative  Mallory,  of  Kentucky,  on  his  motion  to  lay 
the  bill  and  amendments  on  the  table,  called  for  the  yeas  and 
nays.  The  question  being  taken  was  decided  in  the  affirm 
ative;  91  voting  to  lay  the  bill  and  amendments  on  the  table; 
64  were  opposed,  and  27  did  not  vote.1  The  Democratic 
members  were  a  unit  against  the  measure,  and  in  a  body  voted 
to  lay  it  on  the  table. 

The  defeat  of  Davis  now  appeared  complete,  but  the  strug 
gle  was  not  to  be  abandoned  without  another  effort.  On 
the  following  day,  February  22,  1865,  Mr.  Wilson  from  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary  reported  House  Bill  No.  740,  to 
establish  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution  in  the  insurrec 
tionary  States,  with  a  substitute  which  provided  that  neither 
the  people  nor  the  legislature  of  any  rebellious  State  should 
elect  Representatives  or  Senators  to  Congress  until  the  Presi 
dent  had  proclaimed  that  armed  hostility  to  the  United 
States  within  such  State  had  ceased ;  nor  until  the  people  of 
such  State  had  adopted  a  constitution  not  repugnant  to  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States ;  nor  until  by  law 
of  Congress  such  State  had  been  declared  entitled  to  repre 
sentation  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  970-97*. 


3J2    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  authority  for  this  bill  he  professed  to  find  in  the  fourth 
section  of  Article  I.  of  the  Constitution,  which  reads  as 
follows : 

The  Times,  Places  and  Manner  of  holding  elections  for  Senators  and 
Representatives  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the  Legislature 
thereof;  but  the  Congress  may,  at  any  time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such 
regulations,  except  as  to  the  Places  of  choosing  Senators. 

Mr.  Wilson  was  somewhat  embarrassed  in  defending  his 
bill.  Dawes  and  Mallory  exposed  its  weakness,  and  Rep 
resentative  Kernan,  of  New  York,  believed  it  would  put  it  in 
the  power  of  the  Executive  to  say  whether  States  should  be 
represented  in  Congress.  Fernando  Wood  observed  that 
neither  by  that  bill  nor  any  other  could  either  House  of  Con 
gress  be  deprived  of  the  right  to  pass  upon  the  election,  re 
turns  and  qualifications  of  members.1 

Mr.  Ashley  at  this  point  moved  to  amend  the  substitute 
offered  by  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  by  striking  out  all 
after  the  enacting  clause  and  inserting  the  reconstruction  bill 
that  was  tabled  the  day  before.  When  a  point  of  order  was 
raised  against  its  introduction  the  Speaker  said  that  there  was 
an  important  amendment ;  the  word  "  white  "  having  been  in 
serted  before  the  expression  "  male  citizen/'  thus  restricting 
the  class  to  be  enrolled  by  the  United  States  marshal.  Mr. 
Kelley  would  amend  it  by  striking  out  the  word  "  white."  To 
this  the  Ohio  member  had  no  personal  objection;  indeed,  he 
was  abreast  of  Mr.  Kelley  in  the  matter  of  the  suffrage:  the 
only  restriction  he  would  impose  being  that  of  intelligence. 
Ashley  appears,  however,  to  have  regarded  himself  as  but  the 
mouthpiece  of  his  committee  by  whose  authority  he  had  only 
a  few  months  before  inserted  a  provision  in  his  reconstruction 
bill  to  recognize  the  Louisiana  and  Arkansas  governments, 
though  he  expressly  declared  on  a  subsequent  occasion  that  he 
was  opposed  to  such  recognition. 
1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  997-1001. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  COMPROMISE  313 

By  a  vote  of  80  to  65  the  bill  and  its  amendments  was  again 
laid  on  the  table.  Thirty-seven  members  abstained  from 
voting;  fourteen  Republicans  voted  with  the  Democrats.1 
This  action  was  taken  on  the  22d  of  February,  1865;  the 
session  closed  on  the  4th  of  March  following  without  any 
further  attempt  to  pass  the  bill.  Before  the  vote  was  taken 
Ashley  stated  his  sentiments  candidly.  He  wanted  a  record 
made  on  the  question.  "  I  do  not  expect,"  said  he,  "  to  pass 
this  bill  now.  At  the  next  session,  when  a  new  Congress 
fresh  from  the  people  shall  have  assembled,  with  the  nation 
and  its  Representatives  far  in  advance  of  the  present  Congress, 
I  hope  to  pass  even  a  better  bill.  Sir,  I  know  that  our 
loyal  people  will  never  be  guilty  of  the  infamy  of  inviting 
the  blacks  to  unite  with  them  in  fighting  our  battles,  and  after 
our  triumph  —  a  triumph  which  we  never  could  have  achieved 
but  for  their  generous  cooperation  and  aid  —  deny  those 
loyal  blacks  political  rights  while  consenting  that  pardoned 
but  unrepentant  white  rebels  shall  again  be  clothed  with  the 
entire  political  power  of  these  States."  2  The  desire  to  obtain 
negro  suffrage  explains  the  inconsistent  course  of  Representa 
tive  Ashley  throughout  these  debates. 

By  a  singular  method  of  abridging  history  Mr.  Blaine  in 
his  Twenty  Years  of  Congress  passes  without  observation  the 
attempt  to  revive  the  "  pocketed  "  bill,  though  it  was  during 
its  discussion  that  there  was  for  the  first  time  unmistakably 
revealed  the  existence  of  a  schism  in  the  Republican  party. 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1002. 
1  Ibid. 


IX 

THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA 

A  PRECEDING  chapter  has  noticed  the  result  of  the 
Presidential  election  of  1864.  It  was  thought 
proper,  however,  to  reserve  for  separate  treatment 
the  various  questions  presented  by  the  participation  in  that 
contest  of  Louisiana  and  Tennessee,  two  States  reorganized 
under  Executive  auspices.  On  the  introduction  by  Mr.  Wil 
son  of  a  joint  resolution  declaring  certain  named  States  not 
entitled  to  representation  in  the  Electoral  College,  the  entire 
subject  came  before  the  House  soon  after  the  meeting  of 
Congress  in  December. 

The  proposed  resolution  was  read  twice  and  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  On  the  following  day,  Decem 
ber  20,  1864,  it  was  reported,  ordered  to  be  printed  and  recom 
mitted.  Under  the  operation  of  the  previous  question  it  passed 
the  House  on  January  30  succeeding.  Its  preamble,  which  was 
favorably  considered  at  the  same  time,  declared  that  "  the 
inhabitants  and  local  authorities  of  the  States  of  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  and  Tennessee  re 
belled  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  have 
continued  in  a  state  of  armed  rebellion  for  more  than  three 
years,  and  were  in  a  state  of  armed  rebellion  on  the  8th  of 
November,  1864." 

The  joint  resolution  provided  that  these  States  were  not 
entitled  to  representation  in  the  Electoral  College  for  the 
choice  of  President  and  Vice-President  for  the  term  of  office 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     315 

beginning  March  4,  1865,  and  that  no  electoral  votes  from 
them,  relative  to  the  choice  of  said  officers  for  that  term, 
should  be  received  or  counted.1 

In  a  modified  form  the  measure  subsequently  passed  the 
Senate,  which  proposed  that  there  be  stricken  from  the  pre 
amble  the  words  "  and  were  in  such  condition  of  armed  rebel 
lion  for  more  than  three  years,"  and  that  there  be  inserted  in 
lieu  thereof,  "  and  were  in  such  condition  on  the  8th  day  of 
November,  1864,  that  no  valid  election  for  electors  of  Presi 
dent  and  Vice-President,  according  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  thereof,  was  held  therein  on  said  day."  In  this  amend 
ment  the  House  promptly  concurred,  February  6,  1865. 

In  the  Senate,  February  i,  Mr.  Trumbull  asked  considera 
tion  of  the  measure  inasmuch  as  the  electoral  votes  were  to  be 
counted  a  week  later.  When  the  amendment  was  under  dis 
cussion,  Senator  Ten  Eyck,  of  New  Jersey,  moved  to  strike 
out  the  word  "  Louisiana  "  in  the  preamble,  and  added  that 
it  was  a  matter  of  history  that  the  State  had  reorganized,  or 
at  least  attempted  to  do  so,  and  in  the  opinion  of  many,  and 
perhaps  most,  of  her  loyal  citizens  had  reorganized  as  a  State. 
It  was  matter  of  history  that  they  had  elected  State  officers 
and  a  State  Legislature;  that  they  had  elected  members  to  a 
constitutional  convention  and  framed  a  new  constitution  for 
that  State;  that  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  authorizing  the 
choice  of  electors  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States  in  the  last  Presidential  election,  and  that  such 
electors  had  met  and  cast  their  votes.  "  Under  these  circum 
stances,"  said  Mr.  Ten  Eyck,  "  I  think  there  is  a  striking  dis 
tinction  between  the  State  of  Virginia  and  the  State  of  Louis 
iana."  The  object  of  his  amendment,  he  stated,  was  to 
afford  opportunity  to  a  loyal  people  who  had  suffered  all  the 
horrors  of  the  rebellion,  who  had  got  the  better  of  it,  and  put 
it  under  foot,  of  coming  back  and  resuming  their  place  in  the 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  505. 


316    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

councils  of  the  nation.  He  did  not  then  desire  to  make  any 
further  remarks.1 

Senator  Trumbull  then  took  up  the  discussion  of  Ten  Eyck's 
amendment  to  the  amendment.  The  electoral  votes,  he  said, 
were  to  be  opened  and  canvassed  a  week  later,  and  it  was 
known  to  all  that  no  rules  for  action  had  ever  been  adopted 
in  that  joint  convention.  He  recalled  the  fact  that  in  1856 
there  arose  a  question  over  the  counting  of  the  electoral 
vote  of  Wisconsin.  A  severe  snow  storm  had  prevented  the 
electors  from  meeting  at  their  State  capital  on  the  day  fixed 
by  law,  and  it  was  not  until  the  day  following  that  they  were 
able  to  cast  their  votes  for  President  and  Vice-President. 
The  question  was  not  then  decided,  for  Buchanan  and  Breck- 
enridge  were  the  successful  candidates  in  either  event,  and 
were  so  declared. 

He  believed  a  similar  question  was  likely  to  arise  when  the 
electoral  votes  would  be  counted  on  February  8.  It  was  a 
matter  of  public  notoriety,  he  continued,  that  several  of  the 
States  included  in  the  President's  proclamation  of  1861,  Ar 
kansas,  Tennessee  and  Louisiana,  had  cast  electoral  votes. 
There  was  a  question  as  to  their  authority  to  do  so  in  con 
sequence  of  the  insurrection  which  prevailed  there  on  the  8th 
of  November,  when  the  election  took  place,  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  had  passed  the  joint  resolution  declaring  that 
the  votes  of  certain  named  States  should  not  be  counted,  The 
motion  of  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey  would  have  the  effect 
of  counting  the  vote  of  Louisiana.  "  If  we  decide  to  receive 
the  vote  from  Louisiana/'  declared  Mr.  Trumbull,  "  it  will  be 
a  decision  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  that  the  State 
of  Louisiana  was  in  such  a  condition  as  to  vote  for  President 
and  Vice-President  on  the  8th  of  November  last." 

The  alteration  proposed  by  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary, 
said  he,  was  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  any  such  committal 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  533. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     317 

on  the  subject  as  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey 
brought  up.  If  the  preamble  "  is  adopted  and  the  resolution 
passed,  Congress  will  not  have  decided  whether  Louisiana  is 
in  the  Union  or  out  of  the  Union,  whether  she  is  a  State  or 
not  a  State."  It  would  be  time  enough,  he  believed,  to  de 
cide  that  question  when  it  was  presented  to  the  Senate.  No 
statement  of  facts,  he  asserted  in  reply  to  Senator  Howe, 
accompanied  the  joint  resolution  from  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary;  it  was  a  House  resolution,  and  no  report  accom 
panied  it  from  the  House  Committee. 

A  large  part  of  Louisiana,  he  added,  was  on  the  8th  of  No 
vember  preceding  in  the  possession  of  a  hostile  force.  In  a 
very  considerable  portion  of  the  State  there  was  no  opportunity 
to  vote  for  President  or  Vice-President,  and  it  might  be  a  very 
serious  question  whether,  when  half  a  State  or  the  third 
of  a  State  was  overrun  by  an  enemy,  an  election  held  under 
such  circumstances  and  under  the  auspices  of  Federal  guns 
would  be  an  election  which  would  authorize  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  when  in  joint  convention  it  came  to  can 
vass  the  votes  for  President  and  Vice-President,  to  count 
ballots  cast  under  such  circumstances. 

In  acting  upon  the  resolution  he  did  not  mean  to  commit 
the  Senate  one  way  or  another  relative  to  the  organization 
which  had  been  formed  in  Louisiana.  A  decision  to  strike 
out  Louisiana  would  be  to  decide  that  her  electoral  vote  would 
be  received  and  that  on  November  8th  there  was  a  State  gov 
ernment  there.  That  he  did  not  believe.  No  evidence,  he 
asserted,  had  been  submitted  to  show  how  many  votes  were 
cast. 

Pursuant  to  an  act  of  Congress  the  President  had  declared 
the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  in  insurrection  against  the 
United  States.  That  proclamation  had  not  been  recalled. 
"  Sir,"  concluded  Mr.  Trumbull,  "  until  there  shall  be  some 
action  by  Congress  recognizing  the  organization  which  has 


318    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

been  set  up  in  Louisiana,  we  ought  not  in  my  judgment  to 
count  electoral  votes  from  the  State."  Whether  Congress 
would  recognize  it,  he  could  not  say;  that  had  not  yet  been 
done,  and,  until  it  had  been,  the  electoral  vote  ought  not  to  be 
counted.  He  hoped,  therefore,  that  Ten  Eyck's  amendment 
would  not  prevail.1 

Mr.  Ten  Eyck  said  it  was  with  great  diffidence  that  he 
undertook  to  propose  an  amendment  to  the  resolution;  but 
he  held  the  doctrine  that  these  commonwealths  having  taken 
up  their  lot  and  part  with  their  sister  States  when  admitted 
into  the  Union  were  not  legally  out  of  it;  their  govern 
ments  had  been  in  abeyance;  they  had  been  overrun  by  the 
feet  of  hostile  armies,  and  many  of  their  citizens,  by  usurpa 
tion  and  in  violation  of  their  duty  to  their  fellow-men  and  to 
their  God,  had  attempted  to  carry  these  States  out  of  the 
Union. 

That  being  his  opinion,  whenever  these  States,  by  the  aid 
of  the  General  Government,  or  by  the  efforts  of  their  own 
people,  or  by  the  act  of  both  combined,  reestablished  them 
selves,  or  set  their  State  governments  in  action  anew,  and 
had  commenced  again  to  revolve  in  their  old  orbits,  he  should 
feel  it  his  duty,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  to  extend  to 
them  all  the  privileges  and  all  the  rights  to  which  the  loyal 
people  of  a  loyal  State  were  entitled  at  the  hands  of  their  sister 
States,  whether  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate  or  anywhere  else. 
It  was  to  exclude  Louisiana  from  the  operation  of  the  resolu 
tion  that  he  made  his  motion.  As  to  those  States  manifestly 
in  the  condition  described  in  the  preamble  there  was  propriety 
in  passing  the  resolution. 

In  reply  to  an  observation  of  the  chairman  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  that  the  majority  desired  to  avoid  a  committal  on 
this  subject,  Mr.  Ten  Eyck  suggested  that  it  would  not,  per 
haps,  be  amiss  to  insist  that  a  committal  should  not  be  had 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  534-535. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     319 

against  the  interest  of  the  State  any  more  than  in  its  favor, 
and  if  his  amendment  involved  the  question  whether  Louis 
iana  was  in  a  condition  to  perform  all  the  functions  of  a 
State  government  and  to  appoint  State  officers  and  Senators 
and  members  of  the  national  House  of  Representatives,  the 
same  question  was  involved  in  the  resolution  and  it  would 
be  determined  against  her  if  the  joint  resolution  passed  as  it 
stood;  for  that  would  decide  that  Louisiana  was  in  a  state  of 
rebellion  such  as  to  deprive  her  of  all  the  powers,  rights  and 
privileges  of  a  member  of  the  Union.  He  was  not  prepared 
to  go  to  that  extent. 

From  various  memorials,  papers  and  documents  that  had 
come  into  possession  of  the  Senate,  he  continued,  and  were 
published  by  its  order,  as  well  as  from  information  derived 
from  other  sources,  it  appeared  that  nearly,  if  not  quite,  a  year 
before  an  election  for  State  officers  was  held  in  Louisiana  and 
a  very  large  number  of  votes  cast,  about  two  thirds  or  approx 
imating  two  thirds  of  the  largest  number  that  had  been  cast 
at  any  former  election  for  State  officers.  Trumbull  inter 
rupted  to  remark  that  no  such  statements  had  been  received 
by  the  committee.  In  those  localities  which  voted,  perhaps 
two  thirds  of  the  former  vote  had  been  cast,  but  not  two 
thirds  of  that  cast  in  the  entire  State.  Ten  Eyck  replied  that 
the  vote  was  11,414;  it  was  alleged  that  a  large  number  of 
former  voters  had  entered  the  rebel  army  and  a  great  many 
had  been  killed.  He  might  be  in  error  concerning  the  whole 
vote  of  the  State.  All  these  elections  were  free  and  unin 
terrupted  and  without  the  interference  of  any  military  power 
whatever.  A  person  on  the  ground  had  declared  that  "no 
effort  whatever  was  made  on  the  part  of  the  military  author 
ities  to  influence  the  citizens  of  the  State,  either  in  the  selec 
tion  of  candidates  or  in  the  election  of  officers,  and  that  the 
direct  influence  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was 
less  in  Louisiana  than  in  the  elections  probably  of  any  State  of 


320    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  Union;  that  the  officers  representing  the  Government, 
both  civil  and  military,  were  divided,  so  far  as  they  entertained 
or  expressed  opinions,  on  the  question  of  candidates  and  upon 
the  policy  pursued  in  the  organization  of  the  government." 
If  any  military  interference  was  exerted  it  was  in  aid  of  the 
loyal  people,  and  the  civil  authority  was  not  at  all  in  subor 
dination  to  the  military. 

In  view  of  the  invitation  that  had  been  held  out  by  the 
Government  to  all  the  loyal  people  of  those  States  to  come 
back  and  to  endeavor  to  organize  themselves  anew  and,  when 
they  had  gained  sufficient  strength,  to  present  themselves 
civilly  and  quietly  at  the  ballot-box  to  choose  their  own  State 
officers  and  to  choose  delegates  to  form  a  new  State  constitu 
tion,  and  when  they  claim  the  rights  of  other  States,  are 
they  to  be  met  by  the  plea  that  upon  certain  out-bounds  of 
the  State  there  may  still  be  heard  the  tread  of  rebel  feet  ?  It 
appeared  by  all  the  testimony  that  the  population,  the  busi 
ness  and  the  property  of  Louisiana  were  confined  to  the 
cities  and  regions  of  country  immediately  bordering  upon  the 
river,  and  that  the  residue  of  the  State  was  very  sparsely 
settled  indeed.  That  portion  not  submerged  was  used 
for  planting  purposes.  The  wealth  and  population  of  the 
State  were  confined  within  a  small  space  and  this  contracted 
area  was  chiefly  under  control  of  the  United  States.  The 
Presidential  electors  were  chosen  by  the  State  Legislature, 
and  he  did  not  think  that  method  legal.  That  is  why  the  vote 
cast  in  the  election  did  not  appear  in  the  testimony  submitted 
to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary. 

As  to  the  withdrawal  by  the  President  of  his  proclamation 
declaring  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  in  a  state  of  insur 
rection,  if  that  were  the  test  either  the  present  incumbent  or 
his  successor  could  keep  the  loyal  people  of  those  States  from 
returning  to  the  Union  during  the  remainder  of  his  admin 
istration,  and,  if  reflected,  for  the  following  term.  This 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     321 

even  if  every  soul  within  the  State  were  loyal  and  anxious  to 
return.1 

Mr.  Howe  announced  his  intention  of  voting  for  the  amend 
ment  of  Ten  Eyck,  though  for  reasons  very  different  from 
those  which  influenced  the  New  Jersey  Senator.  His  support 
would  not  be  controlled  by  the  number  of  citizens  who  par 
ticipated  in  the  choice  of  electors.  "  I  am  governed,"  said  he, 
"  by  the  single  fact  that  a  statute  of  your  own,  existing  at  the 
time  of  that  election,  declared  that  the  people  of  that  State 
had  the  right  to  choose  electors,  and  that  certain  of  them 
did  participate  in  making  that  choice.  The  Senator  from 
Illinois  [Trumbull]  says  but  a  small  portion  of  the  people 
of  the  State  participated  in  that  choice.  Your  statute  said 
that  all  might.  Does  the  refusal  of  a  large  portion  or  a  small 
portion  of  the  people  of  a  State  to  participate  in  an  election 
deprive  the  minority,  if  you  please,  no  matter  how  small, 
of  their  right  under  your  statute  ?  "  Besides  Louisiana  he 
understood  that  two  other  States  had  made  choice  of  electors. 
He  would  vote  for  an  amendment  to  strike  them  out  of  the 
resolution  also. 2 

Trumbull  argued  that  a  mere  refusal  to  count  the  electoral 
vote  of  Louisiana  did  not  settle  the  question  against  the  exist 
ing  organization.  Wisconsin  had  a  right  to  vote  in  1856, 
and  nobody  supposed  otherwise;  but  many  opposed  the  count 
ing  of  that  vote.  The  State  organization  may  be  perfect  and 
yet  its  electoral  vote  rejected.  If  the  Senate  had  refused  to 
count  Wisconsin's  vote,  it  would  not  therefore  have  decided 
that  there  was  no  such  State.  Ten  Eyck  promptly  indicated 
the  weakness  of  this  reasoning  by  pointing  out  that  the  pre 
amble  of  the  pending  resolution  declared  Louisiana  in  such 
a  condition  of  rebellion  that  no  election  could  be  had.  Senator 
Trumbull  then  put  the  case  of  a  foreign  enemy  having  such 

1  Globe,  Part  L,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  535-536. 
»Ibid.,  p.  536. 


322    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

possession  of  Louisiana  that  no  election  could  be  held 
throughout  the  State,  and  asked  whether  the  Senator  from 
New  Jersey  would  count  the  electoral  vote  of  Louisiana  when 
not  twenty  men  could  have  assembled  in  the  State  and  voted 
for  President  and  Vice-President.  If  the  Senate  refused  to 
count  her  vote  under  such  circumstances,  would  it  decide  that 
the  organization  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  was  not  to  be  recog 
nized,  and  was  repudiated  ?  Whether  the  organization  estab 
lished  in  Louisiana  was  a  valid  one  was  a  question  which 
would  come  before  the  Senate  when  they  inquired  into  the 
right  to  seats  of  those  gentlemen  who  had  presented  them 
selves  as  Senators. 

Replying  to  an  assertion  of  Senator  Howe,  who  was  not  in 
his  seat,  Mr.  Trumbull  said  he  would  like  to  see  the  statute 
which  gave  Louisiana  a  right  to  vote  in  the  Presidential  elec 
tion  of  1864.  If  any  such  existed  it  would  be  repealed  by  the 
act  of  Congress  which  empowered  the  President  to  declare 
the  people  of  certain  commonwealths  in  a  state  of  insurrection. 
In  referring  to  the  objection  of  Mr.  Ten  Eyck  that  the 
President,  if  he  desired,  could  keep  a  State  out  during  his 
entire  administration,  Senator  Trumbull  observed  that  it 
was  only  necessary  for  Congress  to  repeal  the  act  upon  which 
the  proclamation  was  based  and  then  the  proclamation  itself 
would  fall. 

The  refusal  of  a  State  to  vote  when  she  had  an  opportunity 
to  do  so,  said  Mr.  Trumbull,  would  be  no  reason  for  ex 
cluding  her  electoral  vote ;  but  the  people  of  Louisiana  did  not 
have  an  opportunity  unawed  by  hostile  armies  and  unre^ 
strained  by  military  authority  to  vote  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  This,  he  said,  was  not  the  real  point  at  issue;  the 
question  for  the  Senate  to  consider  and  determine  was  whether 
the  Legislature  of  Louisiana  was  a  lawful  assembly,  for  it  was 
by  that  body  that  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President 
were  chosen  in  the  election  of  1864. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     323 

Mr.  Trumbull  believed  that  on  November  8  about  three 
fourths  of  the  area  of  Louisiana  was  in  possession  of  the  Con 
federates.  No  person  could  have  voted  within  that  jurisdic 
tion.  Eleven  or  twelve  thousand  was  the  largest  vote  ever 
cast  under  these  organizations;  while  the  vote  of  the  State, 
when  all  her  legal  voters  had  the  privilege  of  going  to  the 
polls,  was  more  than  60,000. 

Mr.  Ten  Eyck  stated  that  51,000  was  the  highest  vote 
ever  cast,  and  that  the  average  was  but  34,000.  Trumbull 
believed  the  Senate  should  concur  in  the  House  resolution 
and  that  it  need  not  commit  itself  one  way  or  the  other  on 
the  Louisiana  organization.  The  counting  of  the  electoral 
vote,  which  pressed  for  settlement,  should  soon  be  de 
termined.1 

Mr.  Harris  thought  the  question  of  counting  the  votes 
could  be  disposed  of  without  committing  the  Senate  or  de 
ciding  the  matter  of  admitting  Senators,  as  was  done  in  the 
case  of  Wisconsin  in  1856.  "  If  we  count  the  votes  of  these 
States,"  said  he,  "  the  number  of  votes  for  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
Mr.  Johnson  will  be  so  many;  if  we  reject  these  votes  the 
number  of  votes  will  be  so  many;  and  in  either  case  these  can 
didates  are  elected."  By  this  or  a  similar  declaration,  the 
phraseology  of  which  was  suggested  by  the  precedent  of  1856, 
the  question  could  be  passed  over.  He  asked  the  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  why  Congress  had  not  the 
power  to  declare  that  New  York  should  not  vote.  He  op 
posed  the  preamble  because  he  did  not  believe  it  true,  and  he 
denied  that  the  local  authorities  in  Louisiana,  Arkansas  and 
Tennessee  were  in  rebellion  on  the  8th  of  November  preceding. 

When,  on  February  2,  Senator  Harris  resumed  his  remarks 
he  observed  that  the  question  as  to  the  power  of  Congress  to 
legislate  in  relation  to  the  counting  of  votes  for  President 
and  Vice-President  was  not  considered  by  the  committee. 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  535-537- 


324    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Reflection  had  led  him  to  doubt  the  competence  of  Congress 
to  legislate  on  the  subject.  That  body  could  fix  the  time  for 
choosing  electors  and  specify  the  time  when  they  should  per 
form  the  functions  of  their  office.  That,  he  contended,  was 
the  extent  of  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  subject.  He 
could  find  no  authority  in  the  Constitution,  however,  which 
empowered  Congress  to  pass  a  law,  for  the  resolution 
amounted  to  that,  excluding  any  votes  returned  to  the  Vice- 
President.  Even  if  Congress  had  the  authority  it  was  in 
expedient  to  exercise  it.  Why  should  such  extreme  power 
be  exercised  when  the  necessity  did  not  exist  ?  The  result,  it 
was  conceded,  would  be  the  same  whether  Congress  counted 
the  votes  of  Louisiana,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas  or  not.  The 
power  was  not  contained  in  the  Constitution.  Those  States 
specified  in  the  preamble  did  certainly  rebel,  but  that  Louis 
iana,  Arkansas  and  Tennessee  were  in  that  condition  on 
November  8  was  at  least  open  to  question.1 

Senator  Doolittle  believed  that  Congress  by  legislation 
could  provide  in  advance  for  the  manner  of  counting  electoral 
votes;  but  that,  he  insisted,  was  very  different  from  passing  a 
law  which  declared  certain  votes  null  and  void  after  they 
had  been  cast.  That  would  be  retroactive  legislation.  He 
doubted  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  subject  of  counting 
the  electoral  votes,  beyond  that  contained  in  the  Constitution. 
"  The  Congress/'  he  continued,  quoting  the  fourth  clause 
of  section  one  of  the  second  article,  "  may  determine  the  time 
of  choosing  the  electors,  and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give 
their  votes;  which  day  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the 
United  States."  Pursuant  to  this  provision  Congress  passed 
the  act  of  January  23,  1845.  It  was  not  f°r  the  president 
of  the  Senate  to  open  such  as  Congress  told  him  to  open,  but 
he  should  "  open  all  the  certificates  "  which  were  sent  to  him, 
"  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted."  Here,  said  the  Sena- 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  537,  548. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     325 

tor,  arose  the  grave  question  whether  the  president  of  the 
joint  convention  was  made  the  sole  judge  as  to  what  votes 
should  be  counted.  The  question  practically  came  up  in  1856, 
but  it  was  not  then  necessary  to  decide  it,  and  it  was  waived 
as  not  being  essential  to  the  result.  On  the  present  occasion, 
1865,  it  was  the  same,  the  result  of  the  election  would  not 
be  affected  by  the  matter  of  counting  or  not  counting  the 
votes  of  Tennessee  and  Louisiana;  but  it  was  not  neces 
sary  for  Congress  to  assert  a  doctrine  which  in  some  future 
time  might  be  the  very  destruction  of  the  Government,  namely, 
"  That  a  political  party  in  Congress  can  decide  that  certain 
votes  of  certain  States  shall  be  canceled  and  others  shall  be 
received.  It  will  never  do  to  set  that  precedent."  It  would 
be  time  enough,  he  said  in  conclusion,  to  meet  the  question 
when  it  came  up  in  the  joint  convention.1 

Mr.  Hale  said  that  he  had  foreseen  the  difficulty  and  at  the 
preceding  session  had  introduced  a  joint  resolution  directing 
in  advance  what  should  be  done;  but  the  pressure  of  other 
business,  certainly  not  more  important,  prevented  action 
thereon.  If  the  result  of  the  Presidential  election  had  de 
pended  upon  the  votes  of  Louisiana,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas 
would  the  party  have  submitted  against  which  their  votes 
had  been  cast?  The  rebellion  then  existing  was  caused,  he 
believed,  by  nothing  at  all  in  comparison  with  such  a  question. 

He  denied  the  assertion  of  Senator  Doolittle  that  Congress 
had  no  power  over  the  counting  of  the  electoral  votes.  Sup 
pose,  he  argued,  that,  contrary  to  the  constitutional  provision, 
a  member  of  Congress  or  any  officer  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  holding  an  office  of  profit  or  trust  happened  to  be  an 
elector,  would  not  Congress  have  power  to  say  that  such  vote 
of  Federal  officer  should  not  be  counted? 

The  framers  of  the  Constitution,  he  declared,  made  the 

most  ample  provision  for  just  such  a  case.     That  instrument 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  548-549-  ,  : 


326    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

confers  on  Congress  the  power  "  to  make  all  laws  which  shall 
be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  fore 
going  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  Constitution 
in  the  Government  of  the  United  States."  Was  not  the 
power  to  choose  a  President  one  vested  in  the  Government 
of  the  United  States? 

Mr.  Hale  contended  that  then,  when  action  by  Congress 
would  not  affect  the  result  of  the  election,  was  the  time  to 
settle  the  principle,  and  the  precedent  could  be  pointed  to 
showing  the  action  and  sentiment  of  Congress  at  a  time  when 
there  was  no  inducement  to  anything  but  an  honest  and 
straightforward  decision  of  the  case. 

Suppose,  he  went  on,  that  Nevada  while  in  the  territorial 
condition  had  grown  restless  under  her  provincial  state  and 
had  sent  certificates  signed  by  her  electors,  would  Congress 
have  no  authority  to  say  whether  they  should  be  counted? 
In  Washington's  first  election  the  vote  of  New  York  State 
was  not  counted.  Now  her  Senator,  Mr.  Harris,  doubted  the 
competence  of  Congress  either  to  exclude,  or  refuse  to  count, 
the  votes  of  a  State.1 

Mr.  Doolittle  objected  to  being  quoted  quite  so  strongly  as 
to  say  that  Congress  had  no  power  over  this  subject.  Con 
gress  had  power  over  the  subject,  but  that  power  was  limited. 
When  the  Constitution  says  that  the  States  shall  do  certain 
things,  such  as  directing  the  appointment  of  electors,  that  is  a 
limitation  on  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  matter.  What 
he  maintained  was  that  after  the  ballots  had  been  cast  there 
was  no  power  in  Congress  as  a  legislative  body  to  declare 
certain  votes  valid  or  invalid.  The  tribunal  to  which  the 
question  was  referred  was  the  president  of  the  Senate  pre 
siding  over  the  joint  convention  of  both  Houses.  The  power 
in  the  first  instance  was  with  that  officer  to  count  or  not  to 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  549-550. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     327 

count  the  votes.  He  was  to  decide  whether  they  were  from 
States  or  from  Territories.1 

Senator  Trumbull  maintained  that  so  far  from  being  em 
powered  to  decide  disputes,  the  president  of  the  joint  con 
vention  was  not  authorized  to  even  count  the  votes.  In  the 
practice  of  the  Government  the  Vice-President  had  never 
since  the  days  of  Washington  counted  the  votes.  The  Con 
stitution  says  that  he  shall  "  open  all  the  certificates  and  the 
votes  shall  then  be  counted."  It  does  not  state  by  whom, 
but  it  does  state  that  Congress  has  power  to  pass  all  laws 
necessary  to  carry  the  instrument  into  effect.  Congress,  he 
said,  had  exercised  such  power  from  the  beginning. 

There  was  no  legal  difference,  he  asserted,  between  South 
Carolina  and  Louisiana.  An  individual  trading  in  the  latter 
State,  except  under  a  particular  license,  could  be  taken  up 
and  tried  as  a  felon,  and  yet  "  we  are  told  that  we  cannot 
determine  by  act  of  Congress  that  they  cannot  elect  a  Presi 
dent  for  us ! " 

Mr.  Trumbull  contended  that  if  a  question  arose  upon  the 
counting  of  the  vote  of  any  State,  the  joint  convention  could 
not  decide  upon  it.  The  bodies  would  have  to  separate  and, 
by  passing  a  concurrent  resolution,  each  act  independently. 
There  was  no  popular  election,  he  said,  in  the  State  of  Louis 
iana,  but  a  body  assuming  to  be  its  Legislature  had  ap 
pointed  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President.  He  did 
not  know  whether  the  new  constitution  of  Louisiana  author 
ized  that  method. 

The  purpose  of  the  Senate,  he  continue3,  in  amending  the 
joint  resolution  of  the  House  was  to  avoid  declaring  that  the 
people  of  Louisiana  were  on  the  8th  of  November  in  a  state 
of  armed  insurrection.  The  preamble,  even  as  it  was 
amended,  did  not  wholly  satisfy  him;  he  believed  that  he 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2.  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  550. 


328    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

would  be  better  pleased  if  it  was  altogether  omitted.  He  was 
informed  that  Tennessee  had  sent  a  vote  as  well  as  Louisiana. 
The  object  of  the  committee  was  to  settle  the  question  before 
the  meeting  of  the  joint  convention.1 

Senator  Collamer  thought  that  any  law  honestly  intended 
to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  could 
not  be  objected  to.  It  could  if  it  opposed  or  was  inconsistent 
with  that  instrument.  There  had  been  legislation  on  the 
subject  and  additional  action  by  Congress  might  be  necessary. 
For  the  resolution  he  offered  the  following  substitute: 

That  the  people  of  no  State,  the  inhabitants  whereof  have  been 
declared  in  a  state  of  insurrection  by  virtue  of  the  fifth  section  of  the 
act  entitled  "  An  act  further  to  provide  for  the  collection  of,  duties  on 
imports,  and  for  other  purposes,"  approved  July  13,  1861,  shall  be  re 
garded  as  empowered  to  elect  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States  until  said  condition  of  insurrection  shall  cease  and 
be  so  declared  by  virtue  of  a  law  of  the  United  States.2 

By  Mr.  Howard  the  question  was  regarded  as  of  very  great 
importance  not  only  as  a  precedent  for  the  future,  but  "  as 
indicating  the  opinion  of  Congress  on  the  subject,  to  use  a 
familiar  term,  of  '  reconstruction/  or  rather  the  rights  of  the 
States  in  rebellion."  He  believed  it  clear  that  the  Vice-Presi 
dent  was  to  open  the  certificates  and  that  the  duty  of  counting 
devolved  upon  the  two  Houses  thus  assembled.  The  act  of 
1792  seemed  so  to  construe  the  Constitution. 

"  The  power  of  counting  the  votes,"  he  asserted,  "  and  of 
rejecting  votes  which  are  void  for  fraud  or  illegality,  is,  under 
the  Constitution,  In  the  joint  convention  thus  assembled." 
There  was  no  doubt  about  it,  he  declared,  because  the  Houses 
convened  for  a  great  and  protective  purpose;  they  were  exer 
cising  the  tutelary  authority  of  the  people,  in  protecting  the 
nation  from  the  imposition  of  false  and  fraudulent  ballots  and 

1  Globe,  Part  L,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  550-551. 
*  Ibid.,  pp.  551-552. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     329 

certificates.  The  inhabitants  of  the  States  mentioned  in  the 
proclamation  of  the  President  were  public  enemies;  therefore 
they  had  no  political  rights  under  the  United  States. 

"  I  look  upon  this  measure  as  necessary,"  continued  Mr. 
Howard,  "  as  one  form  in  which  the  sense  of  Congress  ought 
to  be  expressed  against  any  hasty  attempt  to  readmit  these 
rebellious  States  into  the  Union."  For  one,  he  would  require 
the  loyalty  and  friendliness  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
rebellious  States  to  be  proved  before  readmitting  any  of  them. 
"  The  theory  of  our  Government,"  he  went  on,  "  is  different 
from  that  of  almost  every  other  government  on  earth.  It  is 
that  the  will  of  the  majority  shall  govern ;  in  common  phrase, 
the  majority  of  the  people,  but  practically  the  majority  of  the 
voting  population." 

In  conclusion  he  declared  that  it  was  "  the  bounden  duty  of 
Congress,  in  every  case,  to  keep  out  of  the  Union  every  one 
of  these  eleven  seceded  States  until,  in  pursuance  of  our  laws, 
passed  or  to  be  passed,  it  has  become  perfectly  evident  to  us 
that  there  is  in  such  a  State  a  clear,  absolute  majority  of  its 
voting  population  friendly  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  willing  to  proceed  in  the  discharge  of  their  func 
tions  as  a  State;  and,  until  that  is  done,  you  may  be  perfectly 
sure,  so  long  as  I  hold  a  seat  in  this  body,  my  vote  will  be 
given  against  any  such  proposal.  I  never  will  consent  to  ad 
mit  into  this  Union  a  State  a  majority  of  whose  people  are 
hostile  and  unfriendly  to  the  Government  of  my  country.  I 
prefer  to  hold  them  in  tutelage  (for  that  is  really  the  word) 
one  year,  five  years,  ten  years,  even  twenty  years,  rather  than 
run  the  risk  of  a  repetition  of  this  rebellion,  which  has  cost 
us  so  much  blood  and  treasure."  l 

Ten  Eyck,  considering  Louisiana  as  the  strongest  case,  men 
tioned  it  in  preference  to  Arkansas  or  Tennessee,  and,  from  a 
paper  furnished  by  a  gentleman  who  was  familiar  with  the 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  553-554- 


330    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

situation  there,  was  able  to  state  that  "  eleven  thousand  four 
hundred  and  fourteen  votes  were  polled  at  this  election.  The 
average  vote  for  ten  years  prior  to  the  rebellion  in  these 
parishes  was  fifteen  to  sixteen  thousand."  The  same  par 
ishes  cast  their  highest  vote,  21,000,  in  1860.  He  expressed 
a  wish  to  save  Tennessee  also  from  the  effect  of  the  resolution, 
and  declared  that  he  did  not  see  how  the  Vice-President-elect, 
an  alien,  could  preside  over  the  Senate.  Further,  a  vote  in 
favor  of  the  resolution  prejudged  the  case  of  the  Senators  and 
the  legality  of  the  Legislature  which  sent  them.1 

Senator  Pomeroy  did  not  suppose  that  States  unrepresented 
in  either  House  could  be  represented  in  the  Electoral  College. 
He  criticised  the  correctness  of  the  preamble  so  far  as  it  re 
lated  to  Arkansas.  The  rebel  governor  as  well  as  the  rebel 
legislature,  he  said,  was  driven  out  long  ago. 

"  Arkansas,"  he  continued,  "  has  not  voted  at  all  in  the 
Presidential  election.  .  .  .  Under  the  instructions  and 
impressions  that  the  members  from  Arkansas  received  here 
last  session,  they  distinctly  understood  that  States  not  repre 
sented  in  either  branch  of  Congress  would  have  no  right  to 
vote  at  the  Presidential  election.  They  returned  to  Arkansas 
and  so  reported,  and  they  never  had  any  election;  there  are  no 
votes  here  from  that  State.  They  have  been  in  suspense 
awaiting  the  action  of  Congress."  The  resolution  itself  did 
not,  of  course,  affect  Arkansas,  for  there  were  no  votes  from 
that  State  to  be  counted.2 

Mr.  Cowan,  probably  adopting  a  hint  dropped  by  Senator 
Ten  Eyck,  noticed  the  fact  that  the  proclamation  of  January 
I,  1863,  exempted  from  its  operations  thirteen  named  parishes 
of  Louisiana  because  no  rebellion  existed  in  them.  The 
validity  of  that  decree  had  been  recognized,  while  the  proc 
lamation  of  December  8  following  invited  the  people  of 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  554-555. 
*  Ibid.,  pp.  555-556. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     331 

Louisiana  and  other  States  to  resume  their  rights.  The  ques 
tion  was  whether  the  arrangements  of  the  President  were  to 
be  executed  in  good  faith. 

It  was  the  duty  of  the  Executive,  he  continued,  "  to  put 
down  this  rebellion,  to  relieve  the  people  from  its  oppression, 
and  to  restore  them  precisely  to  where  they  were  when  the 
rebellion  found  them.  If  that  is  done,  in  ten  days  after  his 
proclamation,  eo  instanti,  the  people  resume  their  rights  and 
functions;  and  in  this  case  I  understand  they  are  not  only  in 
possession  of  the  right,  but  are  actually  in  the  enjoyment  of 
it,  having  a  regularly  organized  government  with  all  the  ma 
chinery  necessary  and  proper  to  a  government."  He  be 
lieved  that  men  and  money  were  furnished  the  President  to 
sustain  State  governments  and  make  them  supreme  within 
their  own  limits. 

Concluding  this  portion  of  his  remarks  he  said :  "  Mr. 
President,  this  involves  a  direct  conflict  between  the  Legis 
lative  and  Executive  bodies  of  this  Government,  and  at  this 
time  I  am  of  opinion  that  we  cannot  afford  to  enter  into  that 
conflict."  * 

Senator  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  said  that  when  it  was  asserted 
that  General  Banks  did  not  interfere  in  the  Louisiana  election 
the  statement  was  not  true,  for  there  could  be  no  greater  in 
terference  in  the  elections  of  a  State  than  to  alter  the  qualifica 
tions  of  voters.  He  declared  himself  "  opposed  to  admitting 
on  this  floor  persons  who  are  elected  under  the  bayonet  in 
fluence  in  any  way  whatever.  I  very  well  know  that  there 
was  no  free  expression  of  the  people  of  Louisiana  in  these 
elections.  I  know  that  they  but  obeyed  the  behests  of  the 
military,  whatever  commanders  may  say  about  it.  ... 
But  for  its  tragical  results  upon  republican  liberty  it  [the 
election]  would  be  the  greatest  of  farces." 

The  Kentucky  member  believed  that  the  rebellious  States 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  556. 


332    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

were  still  in  the  Union,  and  when  a  majority  of  the  people 
in  any  of  them  returned  to  loyalty,  when  their  governments 
were  organized,  their  Senators  and  Representatives  should  be 
received. 1 

Cowan,  entering  again  into  the  discussion,  said :  "  We  are 
bound  by  the  Constitution  to  preserve  the  Union  and  to  pre 
serve  the  rights  of  the  people  under  the  Union;  not  merely 
the  rights  of  a  majority,  but  the  rights  of  the  people,  of  all 
the  people,  and  of  any  number  of  the  people  however  small. 
What  are  we  to  do  ?  A  minority  of  the  people  come  forward 
and  say,  '  If  you  aid  us  for  a  while  we  can  preserve  this  State 
and  keep  her  in  the  Union/  '  But  no/  according  to  the  doc 
trine  advanced  here,  '  there  must  be  a  majority  of  you 
before  we  can  recognize  you  as  in  the  Union/  .  V  ••. 
That  will  be  very  poor  encouragement  for  the  loyal  men  of  the 
rebel  States  to  try  and  bring  back  their  people  to  reason." 
The  Pennsylvania  Senator  was  one  of  the  few  who  ad 
hered  to  the  opinion  that  the  masses  of  men  at  the  South 
were  not  disloyal ;  that  it  was  a  leaders'  rebellion. 2 

Sherman,  of  Ohio,  described  the  scene  in  the  joint  con 
vention  of  1856  when  Humphrey  Marshall  wanted  to  speak 
and  Mr.  Mason,  president  of  the  Senate,  refused  to  recognize 
him.  Speaker  Banks,  however,  did  recognize  him;  upon  this, 
Mason  and  others  left  the  convention,  and  confusion  ensued; 
that,  Mr.  Sherman  believed,  was  a  reason  why  the  resolution 
should  be  disposed  of.3 

Mr.  Wade  said :  "  About  a  year  ago  Congress,  anticipating 
that  such  questions  as  this  might  arise,  in  my  judgment  very 
wisely  framed  a  law  and  passed  it  through  both  branches  with 
the  hope  of  settling  this  matter  in  advance.  That  law  was 
made  upon  great  deliberation  in  both  bodies  of  Congress; 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  557-558. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  558. 
•  Ibid. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     333 

it  received  a  very  large  vote  in  each  House.  It  was  very 
proper  in  my  judgment  that  Congress  should  fix  the  matter 
then,  because  everybody  could  anticipate  that  a  question  of 
the  most  serious  danger  to  the  Republic  might  arise  in  the 
then  approaching  Presidential  election,  which  might  endanger 
the  stability  of  our  Union,  and  which  might  under  certain  cir 
cumstances  precipitate  these  Northern  States  into  a  civil  war. 
Apprehending  that  such  a  question  might  arise,  Congress 
wisely,  in  my  judgment,  provided  against  it;  but  the  Presi 
dent  did  not  agree  with  them,  and  he  vetoed  their  bill,  leav 
ing  the  question  open  with  all  its  dangers,  which,  thank  God, 
have  not  arisen." 

The  President,  added  Mr.  Wade,  chose  to  pocket  the  bill, 
"  and,  as  I  suppose,  he  did  it  in  defence  of  the  proclamation 
which  he  had  put  forth,  declaring  that  whenever  a  tenth  part 
of  the  people  of  a  State  would  come  back,  he  would  recognize 
them  as  the  State  and  as  part  and  parcel  of  this  Govern 
ment  —  a  proposition  which,  with  all  my  respect  for  the  Chief 
Magistrate,  I  am  bound  to  say  is  the  most  absurd  and  im 
practicable  that  ever  haunted  the  imagination  of  a  states 
man.  .  .  .  And  I  must  say  of  that  proclamation  of  the 
President  that  it  was  the  most  contentious,  the  most  an 
archical,  the  most  dangerous  proposition  that  was  ever  put 
forth  for  the  government  of  a  free  people. 

"...  I  had  a  conversation  with  the  now  Vice-Presi 
dent-elect  of  the  United  States  on  that  subject,  and  with 
other  gentlemen  on  the  Union  side  in  the  Southern  States, 
and  I  do  not  know  of  one  of  them  who  was  not  filled  with  the 
deepest  apprehension  that  if  this  principle  should  prevail  they 
would  be  annihilated  by  the  nine  tenths."  l 

As  to  permitting  citizens  of  Louisiana  who  were  serving 
in  the  army  and  navy  to  vote  in  the  election  of  February  22, 
1864,  Mr.  Doolittle  observed :  "  We  have  done  the  same  thing 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  576-582. 


334    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

in  Wisconsin,  in  Ohio,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  New  York,  all 
growing  out  of  exigencies  which  have  occurred  since  this 
rebellion  began,  passing  laws,  authorizing  men,  although  in 
the  Army  of  the  United  States,  still  to  take  part  in  the  elec 
tions,  providing  that  they  should  not  be  deprived  of  their 
rights  of  citizenship  because  they  had  enlisted  in  the  Army  to 
bear  all  the  sacrifices  which  are  necessary  to  defend  their 
country  in  this  struggle.  And,  sir,  I  maintain  that  there 
was  nothing  wrong  in  this."  l  Even  if  it  were  wrong,  only 
808  soldiers,  he  asserted,  participated  in  the  election.  A 
separate  registry  of  this  vote  had  been  kept  by  General  Banks. 
So  far,  therefore,  from  being  a  military  usurpation  it  was  an 
attempt  of  the  President  to  lay  down  the  military  power. 
This  he  was  endeavoring  in  good  faith  to  do. 

After  a  somewhat  excited  defence  of  the  Administration 
by  Senator  Doolittle,  and  severe  attacks  on  both  President 
Lincoln  and  General  Banks  by  Mr.  Powell  and  others,  Ten 
Eyck's  motion  to  strike  out  Louisiana  from  the  joint  resolu 
tion  was  defeated,  February  3,  1865,  by  a  vote  of  22  to  i6.a 
Lane's  motion  immediately  after  to  strike  out  the  preamble, 
which  would  leave  only  an  unmeaning  resolution,  was  lost  by 
a  vote  of  30  nays  to  12  yeas.3 

Senator  Harris  proposed  to  amend  Mr.  Collamer's  substi 
tute  by  resolving,  "  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  determine  the 
question  as  to  the  validity  of  the  election  of  electors  in  the 
said  States  of  Tennessee  and  Louisiana,  and  that  in  counting 
the  votes  for  President  and  Vice-President  the  result  be  de 
clared  as  it  would  stand  if  the  votes  of  the  said  States  were 
counted,  and  also  as  it  would  stand  if  the  votes  of  the  said 
States  were  excluded,  such  result  being  the  same  in  either 
case."  By  nearly  the  same  majority  this  proposition  also  was 
voted  down  without  much  discussion.4 

*  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  575.       '  Ibid.,  pp.  576-582; 
1  Ibid.,  p.  582.  *  Ibid.,  p.  583. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     335 

Reverdy  Johnson,  who  favored  the  House  resolution  as 
amended  by  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  did  not  think 
the  rebellious  States  were  out  of  the  Union,  and  asserted  that 
there  was  no  power  in  any  branch  of  Government  to  declare 
war  against  a  State.  Referring  to  the  Whiskey  Insurrection 
in  Washington's  administration,  he  said  that  Congress  passed 
no  act  declaring  it  at  an  end.  The  President  declared  it.  It 
ended  itself.  The  insurrectionists  laid  down  their  arms,  and 
expressed  willingness  to  yield  obedience  to  the  United  States; 
that  ended  the  insurrection  and  disbanded  the  Federal  forces, 
"  and  that  happening,  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  every  part 
of  it,  stood  exactly  in  the  relation,  for  all  purposes,  in  which 
the  State  and  every  part  of  it  stood  before  the  insurrection 
was  commenced."  1 

Mr.  Collamer  said  that  the  real  point  in  Senator  Johnson's 
argument  was  whether  Congress  had  anything  to  do  in  the 
reorganization  or  reestablishment  of  those  States.  Mr. 
Johnson,  continued  the  Senator  from  Vermont,  seemed  to 
think  not.  On  resuming  his  speech,  February  4,  1865,  he 
inquired :  "  When  will,  and  when  ought,  Congress  to  admit 
these  States  as  being  in  their  normal  condition?  When  they 
see  that  they  furnish  evidence  of  it.  It  is  not  enough  that 
they  stop  their  hostility  and  are  repentant.  They  should 
present  fruits  meet  for  repentance.  They  should  furnish  to 
us  by  their  actions  some  evidence  that  the  condition  of 
loyalty  and  obedience  is  their  true  condition  again,  and 
Congress  must  pass  upon  it;  otherwise  we  have  no 
securities.  It  is  not  enough  that  they  lay  down  their 
arms.  Our  courts  should  be  established,  our  taxes 
should  be  gathered,  our  duties  should  be  collected  in  those 
States;  and  before  they  come  here  to  perform  their  duties 
or  privileges  again  as  members  of  this  Union,  they  should 
place  themselves  in  an  attitude  showing  to  us  that  they  have 
1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  585. 


336   LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

truly  taken  that  position,  and  we  should  pass  upon  it;  and  I 
insist  that  the  President,  making  peace  with  them,  if  you 
please,  by  surceasing  military  operations,  does  not  alter  their 
status  until  Congress  passes  upon  it.  ...  I  believe  that 
when  reestablishing  the  condition  of  peace  with  that  people, 
Congress,  representing  the  United  States,  has  power,  in  ending 
this  war  as  any  other  war,  to  get  some  security  for  the 
future." 

The  guaranty  clause,  Mr.  Collamer  asserted,  implied  that 
States  were  to  be  kept  in  the  Union;  it  was  inserted  for  the 
security  of  the  minority  in  a  State,  though  there  might  be 
but  one  man  there  to  redeem  Sodom.  No  one  State  could 
discharge  the  United  States  from  a  performance  of  that  ob 
ligation.  To  keep  it  Congress,  if  it  was  essential  to  main 
taining  a  republican  form  of  government,  could  abolish 
slavery  if  that  institution  stood  in  the  way  of  performing  the 
guaranty.  Before  restoring  the  States,  he  added  in  con 
clusion,  the  President  would  need  the  assistance  of  Congress, 
else  how  could  he  get  rid  of  the  confiscation  act.1 

Collamer's  substitute,  which  shared  the  fate  of  the  amend 
ment  offered  by  Ten  Eyck,  could  be  construed  only  by  an  ex 
amination  of  the  President's  proclamation  to  ascertain  what 
States  were  in  insurrection. 

To  the  preamble,  which  stated  that  four  years  earlier  certain 
designated  States  had  rebelled,  and  on  the  8th  of  Novem 
ber  preceding  were  in  such  condition  of  rebellion  that  no 
valid  election  for  the  choice  of  electors  of  President  and 
Vice-President  could  be  held  there,  Senator  Pomeroy  ob 
jected  that  the  rebel  governor  of  Arkansas  had  been  killed, 
and  the  entire  disloyal  government  destroyed.  When  the 
election  was  held  the  real  local  authorities  in  that  State  were 
Union  men.  It  would  not  be  true,  as  the  preamble  declared, 
that  these  authorities  were  in  rebellion  on  November  8.  The 

1  Globe,  Part  L,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  591. 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA    337 

terms  of  the  disloyal  officials  in  Arkansas  had  expired  by 
limitation;  the  chief  men  in  that  government  were  not  alive 
to  exert  any  influence  if  they  were  disposed  to  do  so.  It 
was  not  true  to  say  that  they  made  war  on  the  United  States 
on  the  8th  of  November,  1864,  or  that  they  were  then  in 
condition  to  do  so.  Since  the  rebellion  began  they  never  had 
but  one  election. 

Pomeroy's  amendment  to  substitute  for  "  state  of  rebel 
lion  "  the  word  "  condition  "  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  26  to 
13.  The  preamble,  as  thus  perfected,  declared  that  certain 
States  had  rebelled  four  years  before,  and  on  November  8 
were  in  such  "  condition  "  that  no  valid  election  was  held.1 

Mr.  Lane  believed  that  for  the  protection  of  Union  men 
in  those  States  a  loyal  government  was  indispensable,  and 
that  it  did  more  to  demoralize  the  insurgents  and  to  close  out 
the  rebellion  than  any  other  act  that  could  be  accomplished. 
It  would  be  worth  more  than  all  the  victories  that  could  be 
gained  in  the  field.2 

Senator  Howe  in  closing  the  debate  observed  that  four  days 
had  been  spent  in  discussing  not  the  passage  of  the  joint 
resolution,  but  the  reason  to  be  assigned  in  its  preamble  for 
excluding  the  vote  of  certain  States.  It  belonged  to  the 
legislatures  of  those  commonwealths,  he  maintained,  to  declare 
whether  valid  elections  had  been  held  there.  He  distrusted 
that  sort  of  legislation,  and  in  conclusion  said :  "  If  you  will 
take  hold  of  the  question  of  the  political  relations  of  these 
communities,  and  if  you  will  tell  what  is  the  truth,  and  has 
been  the  truth  since  1861,  that  there  are  no  State  organizations 
there,  no  State  governments,  I  am  with  you.  When  you  estab 
lish  that,  you  know  what  they  may  and  what  they  may  not 
do."  3 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  593. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  594. 
'Ibid.,  pp.  594  595- 


338    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

By  a  vote  of  29  to  10  the  joint  resolution  was  passed  on 
February  4.  In  the  record  the  names  of  Cowan,  Doolittle, 
Harris,  Howe,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Nesmith,  Saulsbury,  Ten 
Eyck,  Van  Winkle  and  Willey  appear  in  opposition.1 

For  the  purpose  of  canvassing  the  electoral  votes,  both 
Houses  assembled  in  joint  convention  four  days  later,  Feb 
ruary  8,  1865.  The  Vice-President  in  discharge  of  his  duty 
proceeded  to  open  and  hand  to  the  tellers  the  votes  of  the 
several  States,  beginning  with  Maine.  No  one  dissenting 
it  was  agreed  on  a  suggestion  by  Senator  Wade  to  dispense 
with  the  reading  of  everything  in  the  certificate  except  the 
result  of  the  vote. 

When  all  the  votes  had  been  recorded,  Cowan  said :  "  Mr. 
President,  I  inquire  whether  there  are  any  further  returns  to 
be  counted."  The  Vice-President  replied  in  the  negative. 
To  his  former  question  Mr.  Cowan  then  added,  "  And  if 
there  be,  I  would  inquire  why  they  are  not  submitted  to  this 
body  in  joint  convention,  which  is  alone  capable  of  determin 
ing  whether  they  should  be  counted  or  not."  The  Vice- 
President  acknowledged  that  he  had  in  his  possession  returns 
from  the  States  of  Louisiana  and  Tennessee,  but  in  obedi 
ence  to  the  law  of  the  land  "  the  Chair  holds  it  to  be  his 
duty  not  to  present  them  to  the  convention."  The  Pennsyl 
vania  Senator  thereupon  inquired  whether  the  joint  resolu 
tion  had  been  signed  by  the  President,  and  was  informed  that 
while  the  official  communication  of  its  approval  had  not  been 
received  by  either  House,  the  Chair  had  been  apprised  that 
the  resolution  had  received  the  Executive  approval. 

Cowan  then  suggested  that,  as  a  motion  was  not  in  order, 
the  votes  of  Louisiana  and  Tennessee  be  counted,  and  that 
the  convention  determine  the  fact.  Representative  Cox  im 
mediately  recommended  the  reading  of  the  joint  rule  under 
which  both  Houses  were  then  acting.  On  being  directed  by 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Conpr.,  p.  595- 


THE  ELECTORAL  VOTE  OF  LOUISIANA     339 

the  Vice-President  the  secretary  complied  with  this  sugges 
tion. 

Thaddeus  Stevens  did  not  think  any  question  had  arisen 
which  required  the  two  Houses  to  separate,  for  that,  accord 
ing  to  the  language  of  the  joint  resolution,  could  only  occur 
upon  the  reading  of  those  returns  which  had  been  opened 
by  the  president  of  the  convention. 

Mr.  Cowan  did  what  he  could  to  bring  the  question  before 
the  two  Houses,  and  failing,  withdrew  it.  The  result,  after 
some  further  effort  to  call  up  the  returns  from  Louisiana  and 
Tennessee,  was  then  announced.  The  tellers  reported  that  for 
President  of  the  United  States  Abraham  Lincoln  had  re 
ceived  212,  and  George  B.  McClellan  21  votes;  that  for 
Vice-President  Andrew  Johnson  had  received  212,  and  George 
H.  Pendleton  21  votes.1 

On  February  10  the  president  pro  tempore  laid  before  the 
Senate  the  following  communication  from  Mr.  Lincoln : 

To  the  honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 

The  joint  resolution  entitled  "  Joint  resolution  declaring  certain  States 
not  entitled  to  representation  in  the  Electoral  College  "  has  been  signed 
by  the  Executive,  in  deference  to  the  view  of  Congress  implied  in  its 
passage  and  presentation  to  him.  In  his  own  view,  however,  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  convened  under  the  twelfth  article  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  have  complete  power  to  exclude  from  counting  all  electoral  votes 
deemed  by  them  to  be  illegal ;  and  it  is  not  competent  for  the  Executive 
to  defeat  or  obstruct  that  power  by  a  veto,  as  would  be  the  case  if  his 
action  were  at  all  essential  in  the  matter.  He  disclaims  all  right  of  the 
Executive  to  interfere  in  any  way  in  the  matter  of  canvassing  or 
counting  electoral  votes,  and  he  also  disclaims  that,  by  signing  said 
resolution,  he  has  expressed  any  opinion  on  the  recitals  of  the  preamble, 
or  any  judgment  of  his  own  upon  the  subject  of  the  resolution." 

Except  for  a  brief  speech  by  Reverdy  Johnson  this  message 
was  received  in  silence  by  the  Senate.  Mr.  Johnson  com 
mented  upon  the  extraordinary  course  of  the  President,  whose 

1  The  subject  of  the  counting  of  the  electoral  votes  will  be  found  in  the 
Congressional  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  668-669. 
*  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  711. 


340    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

duty,  he  said,  was  clearly  to  approve  or  to  disapprove,  not 
virtually  to  read  a  lecture  to  the  Senate  as  he  had  done.  The 
Maryland  member  did  not  doubt  that  the  motives  of  the 
President  were  perfectly  correct  and  patriotic,  but  it  was 
not  the  first  time,  he  asserted,  that  that  had  been  done.  The 
bill  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  seceded  States  passed  both 
Houses  by  an  overwhelming  majority;  but  it  was  defeated 
by  the  President's  failure  to  approve,  and  the  adjournment 
of  Congress  before  ten  days  elapsed.  In  his  manifesto  or 
proclamation  he  approved  portions  and  disapproved  others.1 
Short  as  this  paper  was,  however,  it  was  entirely  charac 
teristic  of  the  President.  This  little  lesson  in  constitutional 
law  is  only  another  proof  that  Mr.  Lincoln  possessed  in  an 
eminent  degree  the  faculty  of  seeing  clearly  through  the 
most  intricate  question.  His  disposal  of  this  difficulty  as  well 
as  his  reflections  on  Congress  remind  one  of  the  facility  with 
which  he  straightened  out  for  General  Butler  the  liquor  prob 
lem  at  Norfolk.  The  succeeding  chapter  will  describe  an 
other  phase  of  the  controversy  between  the  political  depart 
ments  of  the  Government. 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  711. 


;:3;iiligi        X 

SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA 

AT  the  opening  of  its  second  session,  December  5, 
1864,  the  Speaker  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress 
laid  before  the  House  the  credentials  of  W.  D. 
Mann,  T.  M.  Wells,  Robert  W.  Taliaferro,  A.  P.  Field  and 
M.  F.  Bonzano,  who  claimed  seats  as  Representatives  from 
the  State  of  Louisiana.  A  petition,  signed  by  numerous 
citizens  of  that  commonwealth,  protesting  against  the  admis 
sion  of  these  claimants,  was  referred  at  the  same  time  on 
motion  of  Henry  Winter  Davis  to  the  Committee  of  Elections 
in  connection  with  their  credentials,  which  had  already  re 
ceived  the  same  direction.  On  the  I3th  this  remonstrance 
was  ordered  to  be  printed. 

Mr.  Dawes  on  February  1 1  following  reported  that  "  M. 
F.  Bonzano  is  entitled  to  a  seat  in  this  House  as  a  Represent 
ative  from  the  First  Congressional  District  of  Louisiana.'' 
Six  days  later  he  presented  a  report  and  resolutions  from  his 
committee  to  the  effect  that  Messrs.  Field  and  Mann  from  the 
Second  and  Third  Districts,  respectively,  were  also  entitled 
to  seats.  These  reports  with  the  accompanying  resolutions 
were  laid  on  the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

No  further  action  was  taken  on  the  question  of  their  ad 
mission,  but  on  March  3,  1865,  Chairman  Dawes  by  unani 
mous  consent  reported  from  the  Committee  of  Elections  a 
resolution  that  there  be  paid  to  each  of  the  Louisiana  claim 
ants  for  compensation,  expenses  and  mileage  the  sum  of 


342     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

$2,000  and  a  like  amount  to  T.  M.  Jacks,  J.  M.  Johnson  and 
A.  A.  C.  Rogers,  claimants  from  Arkansas. 

The  House,  however,  was  not  nearly  so  unanimous  as  its 
committee.  Mr.  Washburne  remarked  that  Congress,  by 
allowing  at  the  last  session  the  sum  of  $1,500  to  one  gen 
tleman  who  claimed  a  seat,  had  fixed  a  sort  of  rule  in  such 
cases.  That  amount  he  would,  probably,  not  object  to  paying 
to  the  present  applicants;  but  if  large  payments,  such  as  the 
compensation  proposed  by  the  resolution,  were  made  to  men 
coming  to  the  Capitol  it  was  feared  they  might  not  soon  stop. 

Representative  Johnson,  of  Pennsylvania,  believed  that  re 
gardless  of  their  right  to  seats  they  should  be  compensated 
because  they  had  been  encouraged  to  come;  they  appeared  at 
the  Capitol,  he  asserted,  with  an  honest  expectation  of  getting 
seats,  and  in  an  honest  effort  to  restore  popular  government 
to  their  States. 

Mr.  Dawes  declared  that  they  came  not  as  adventurers  but 
under  what  they  supposed  was  the  policy  of  the  General 
Government;  hence  the  favorable  recommendation  of  the 
committee.  When  he  demanded  the  previous  question, 
Representative  Brandegee  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on 
the  table.  Thaddeus  Stevens  asked  to  strike  out  the  words 
"  claimants  for  seats."  To  this  the  Massachusetts  member 
offered  no  objection.  "  I  do  not  want  to  recognize  the  idea," 
added  Stevens,  "  that  anybody  on  earth  thinks  that  these  men 
are  entitled  to  seats."  *  This  request,  however,  was  denied, 
and  the  resolution  was  then  adopted. 

It  was  during  their  three  months'  sojourn  in  Washington 
that  one  of  the  claimants,  A.  P.  Field,  committed  an  assault 
upon  Representative  William  D.  Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania, 
•whom  he  regarded  as  the  chief  obstacle  to  their  admission. 
This  occurrence,  which  took  place  on  February  20  at  the 
Willard  Hotel,  was  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  artificial  excitement 
1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1395. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA 


343 


of  the  Louisiana  claimant,  but  was  without  influence  upon 
the  action  of  the  House.1 

The  General  Assembly  of  Louisiana,  as  previously  related, 
had  chosen  Charles  Smith  and  R.  King  Cutler  as  United 
States  Senators.  With  the  Representatives-elect  these  gen 
tlemen  also  appeared  in  Washington  as  claimants  for  seats. 
On  December  7,  two  days  after  Congress  assembled,  the 
president  pro  tempore  presented  certain  proceedings  of  the 
Louisiana  Legislature  declaratory  of  the  election  of  Smith 
and  Cutler.  The  papers,  it  was  announced,  would  lie  on  the 
table  unless  otherwise  ordered.  Just  as  Henry  Winter  Davis 
had  done  in  the  House,  Senator  Wade  offered  a  memorial 
from  Louisiana  citizens  remonstrating  against  their  admis 
sion,  and  also  against  the  reception  of  any  electoral  vote  from 
that  State.  On  his  motion  it  was  agreed  that  all  documents 
pertaining  to  the  subject  be  printed.  On  the  following  day, 
December  8,  the  credentials  as  well  as  the  remonstrance  were 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary. 

Senator  Trumbull  on  February  17  succeeding  made  a  re 
port  from  his  committee,  and  offered  a  joint  resolution  rela 
tive  to  the  credentials  of  Smith  and  Cutler.  At  the  request  of 
Charles  Sumner  the  resolution  was  read  at  length  and  was 
as  follows : 

That  the  United  States  do  hereby  recognize  the  government  of  the 
State  of  Louisiana,  inaugurated  under  and  by  the  convention  which 
assembled  on  the  6th  day  of  April,  A.  D.,  1864,  at  the  city  of  New 
Orleans,  as  the  legitimate  government  of  the  said  State,  and  entitled  to 
the  guarantees  and  all  other  rights  of  a  State  government  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.* 

This  resolution  was  limited  to  Louisiana  because  the  facts, 
while  in  many  respects  similar,  were  not  identical  with  those 
in  the  case  of  Arkansas.  Besides,  when  the  subject  first  came 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  971-974. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  903. 


344    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

up  in  committee  the  Arkansas  case  had  not  been  presented, 
though  it  arose  before  Louisiana  had  been  disposed  of. 
Trumbull  believed  it  the  intention  of  the  committee  to  act 
immediately  upon  Arkansas  when  the  case  of  Louisiana  had 
been  considered.1 

Sumner  moved,  February  23,  to  strike  out  all  of  the  joint 
resolution  except  the  enacting  clause,  and  to  substitute  the 
following : 

That  neither  the  people  nor  the  Legislature  of  any  State,  the  people 
of  which  were  declared  to  be  in  insurrection  against  the  United  States 
by  the  proclamation  of  the  President,  dated  August  16,  1861,  shall  here 
after  elect  Representatives  or  Senators  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  until  the  President,  by  proclamation,  shall  have  declared  that 
armed  hostility  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  within  such 
State  has  ceased;  nor  until  the  people  of  such  State  shall  have  adopted 
a  constitution  of  government  not  repugnant  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States;  nor  until,  by  a  law  of  Congress,  such  State 
shall  have  been  declared  to  be  entitled  to  representation  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  of  America.* 

To  this  amendment  Senator  Trumbull  objected  that  it 
would  put  it  in  the  power  of  the  President,  by  refusing  to  issue 
his  proclamation,  to  keep  a  State  out  forever.  Sumner's  sub 
stitute  was  promptly  defeated  by  a  vote  of  29  to  8.8 

Of  the  members  of  the  committee  Powell  alone  opposed 
the  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Trumbull.  The  chief  object  in 
recognizing  the  government  of  Louisiana  at  that  time,  said 
the  Kentucky  Senator,  was  to  allow  that  State  to  vote  for  the 
proposed  amendment  of  the  Constitution;  to  do  that  effectu 
ally  those  favorable  to  the  resolution  desired  first  to  admit 
her  Senators  and  Representatives;  their  admission  would  be 
the  immediate  effect  of  its  passage. 

A  just  conclusion  on  that  subject  could  be  reached  only 
by  information  concerning  the  action  of  the  President,  of  the 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  ion. 

1  Ibid. 

•Ibid. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  345 

military,  and  of  the  people  of  Louisiana  in  connection  with 
the  election.  He  opposed  the  loyal  government  because  it 
was  not  formed  by  the  people  of  that  State;  however,  he  did 
not  want  to  be  classed  with  those  who  thought  Louisiana  out 
of  the  Union.  He  believed  that  something  approximating  a 
majority  of  her  people  should  indicate  a  willingness  to  re 
turn  to  the  Union,  and  should  participate  in  the  movement 
for  reorganization.  The  formation  of  the  existing  govern 
ment,  he  asserted,  was  controlled  and  influenced  by  persons 
who  were  not  citizens  of  Louisiana,  and,  he  added,  "  It  is 
a  government  formed  really  and  virtually  by  the  military 
power  of  the  United  States,  using  as  instruments  delegates 
who  were  elected  under  and  by  force  of  the  bayonet." 

Before  Senators  could  vote  for  the  resolution,  he  con 
tinued,  they  must  maintain  the  doctrine  announced  in  the 
President's  proclamation  of  December  8,  1863,  when  he  pro 
posed  that  one  tenth  of  the  loyal  voters  in  a  State  who  would 
comply  with  the  conditions  therein  prescribed,  could  form  a 
State  government;  they  must  further  maintain  that  the  Presi 
dent,  of  his  own  volition,  had  power  by  decretal  order  to  alter 
the  constitution  of  a  State;  that  the  President  had  power  to 
prescribe  the  qualifications  both  of  voters  and  candidates  for 
office  in  the  States;  finally  they  must  believe  that  not  only  did 
the  President  possess  these  powers,  but  that  Major-General 
Banks,  in  virtue  of  his  office,  possessed  them  in  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Powell  proposed  to  show  that  not  only  did  Louisiana 
people  not  act  of  their  own  volition,  but  that  "  they  were  co 
erced  to  do  what  they  did."  The  constitution  of  that  State, 
he  asserted,  was  not  made  by  the  free  suffrage  of  the  people. 

The  creation  of  a  State  government  is  a  purely  civil  act ;  the 
people  must  act  without  restraint.  He  had  never  heard  any 
Senator  say  that  the  President  could  legitimately  exercise  the 
power  assumed  in  his  proclamation  of  December  8,  1863. 
Mr.  Powell  objected  to  the  oath  which  was  to  be  taken  as 


346    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

a  condition  precedent  to  becoming  a  qualified  elector  in  one 
of  the  revolted  States,  especially  to  that  portion  which  prom 
ised  support  of  all  future  proclamations  of  the  President  on 
the  question  of  slavery.  "  Why,  sir,"  he  exclaimed,  "  the 
President  may  proclaim  that  the  negro  shall  be  the  master 
and  the  white  man  the  slave ;  that  the  negro  shall  be  the  voter 
and  the  white  man  deprived  of  the  right  of  suffrage;  and  yet 
this  oath  requires  the  man  taking  it  to  swear  in  advance 
that  he  would  support  even  such  a  measure  as  that.  .  .  . 

"  At  the  very  threshold,  then/'  he  continued,  "  you  repudiate 
the  great  principle  of  republican  government  that  majorities 
shall  rule.  Here  you  propose  to  say  not  that  majorities,  but 
that  less  than  one  tenth  shall  rule."  It  was  intimated  by  the 
President  that  when  they  made  a  constitution  it  must  not  rec 
ognize  African  slavery.  General  Banks,  carrying  out  the 
suggestion  of  the  President,  as  well  as  what  had  been  dis 
tinctly  stated  to  General  Steele  in  relation  to  Arkansas,  took  it 
upon  himself  to  alter  the  constitution  of  Louisiana  in  that 
respect. 

Whence  does  the  President,  it  was  asked,  derive  the  power 
to  prescribe  qualifications  for  either  electors  or  candidates? 
The  proclamation,  the  Kentucky  Senator  asserted,  was  the 
basis  of  the  whole  proceeding,  and  those  who  voted  for  the 
resolution  endorsed  the  proclamation. 

Mr.  Powell  then  reviewed  the  acts  and  read  the  proclama 
tion  of  General  Banks,  whose  conduct  he  denounced  for  pre 
suming  to  declare  certain  parts  of  the  Louisiana  constitution 
no  longer  applicable  to  any  class  of  persons  in  that  State,  and, 
therefore,  inoperative  and  void. 

He  further  objected  that  Banks  had  no  authority  to  call 
the  convention,  for  the  constitution  of  Louisiana  could  be 
lawfully  amended  in  only  the  mode  pointed  out  by  itself. 
The  President's  proclamation,  he  added,  would  allow  only 
those  to  vote  who  were  qualified  electors  under  the  funda- 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  347 

mental  law  of  the  State;  those  in  the  army  and  navy  were 
not,  but  General  Banks  in  his  ukase  of  February  13,  1864, 
allowed  them  to  participate  in  the  election. 

He  also  invited  attention  to  the  action  of  the  Department 
Commander  in  designating  provost  marshals  to  take  care  that 
the  polls  were  properly  opened,  in  the  absence  of  the  sheriffs, 
and  that  suitable  persons  were  appointed  judges  of  election 
and  so  forth.  Of  the  11,414  votes  he  asserted  that  808  were 
cast  by  soldiers  who  under  the  President's  proclamation 
were  not  legal  voters.  The  fact,  added  Mr.  Powell,  that 
General  Banks  after  the  inauguration  of  Hahn  as  governor 
continued  to  issue  proclamations  shows  that  the  civil  was  con 
trolled  by  the  military  authority. 

Passing  on  to  a  discussion  of  the  statement  of  Banks  be 
fore  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  that  the  military  did  not 
interfere  in  the  election  of  February  22,  Senator  Powell 
quoted  the  following  passages  from  a  proclamation  of  the 
Department  Commander: 

Those  who  have  exercised  or  are  entitled  to  the  rights  of  citizens  of 
the  United  States  will  be  required  to  participate  in  the  measures  neces 
sary  for  the  reestablishment  of  civil  government.  ...  It  is  there 
fore  a  solemn  duty  resting  upon  all  persons  to  assist  in  the  earliest 
possible  restoration  of  civil  government.  Let  them  participate  in  the 
measures  suggested  for  this  purpose.  Opinion  is  free  and  candidates  are 
numerous.  Open  hostility  cannot  be  permitted.  Indifference  will  be 
treated  as  a  crime,  and  faction  as  treason. 

"Talk  to  me,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Powell,  "of  freedom  of 
election  under  such  military  orders!  Why,  sir,  there  was 
but  one  free  man,  in  my  opinion,  in  all  Louisiana  at  that  time, 
and  that  was  Major-General  Banks;  and  I  do  not  know  that 
he  was  free,  for  he  was  serving  his  master  at  the  White 
House."  The  fundamental  law  there  was  martial  law,  which 
is  but  the  will  of  the  commander-in-chief,  and  under  that  law 
he  could  have  beheaded  them  if  they  did  not  vote. 

From  beginning  to  end,  he  continued,  the  coercive  finger 


348     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  the  military  was  engaged  in  the  establishment  of  that 
government.  Under  the  various  proclamations  even  Union 
ists,  men  who  had  always  been  loyal,  could  not  vote  unless 
they  took  the  oath  required  in  the  President's  proclamation. 
There  was  a  large  class  of  loyal  men  in  Louisiana,  he  said, 
who  refused  to  take  that  oath,  for  there  had  been  presented 
to  the  Judiciary  Committee  an  earnest  protest  signed  by 
Thomas  J.  Durant  and  thirty-one  others,  influential  Union 
men  of  that  State,  against  the  admission  of  Senators  and 
Representatives  and  against  counting  its  electoral  vote. 
Those  Senators,  he  added  toward  the  conclusion  of  his  re 
marks,  who  only  a  few  days  before  opposed  the  counting  of 
Louisiana's  electoral  vote  should  now  vote  against  the  reso 
lution  acknowledging  the  government  which  appointed  the 
Senators  that  are  claiming  seats.1 

Sumner  and  Davis  referred  to  the  resolution  as  a  shadow. 
To  this  Mr.  Doolittle  replied  that  the  vote  of  Louisiana 
might  be  necessary  to  secure  the  constitutional  amendment, 
and  that  the  new  constitution  of  that  State  had  struck  the 
shackles  from  90,000  slaves  not  reached  by  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation. 

Mr.  Henderson,  who  favored  the  resolution,  secured  the 
floor,  and  observed,  among  other  things,  that  Louisiana  and 
Arkansas  did  not  claim  that  they  were  yet  strong  enough  to 
maintain  their  governments  without  the  military  aid  of  the 
nation;  but  neither  was  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  Kentucky 
or  Missouri;  even  Ohio,  Indiana  or  Illinois,  he  said,  could 
not  without  national  assistance  maintain  their  State  organiza 
tions  for  sixty  days  against  the  Confederate  armies. 

"  If  we  would  have  State  governments,"  said  Mr.  Hender 
son,  "  we  must  begin  somewhere  and  at  some  time."  It  was 
nonsensical,  he  argued  to  talk  of  restoring  the  Union,  while 
keeping  the  loyal  people  in  those  States  for  all  time  to  come 

1  Globe,  Part  I.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1061-1064. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA 


349 


under  military  domination.  "We  must  declare  the  right  in 
Congress,"  he  added,  "  to  make  and  establish  these  govern 
ments  for  the  States,  or  permit  the  President,  under  military 
law,  to  set  them  up,  or  we  must  recognize  such  as  the  loyal 
people  may  set  up  for  themselves."  If,  as  Madison  thought, 
Congress  cannot  make  them,  but  can  only  guarantee  such  as 
already  exist  and  are  found  to  be  republican  in  form,  it  must 
be  left  with  the  President,  under  his  power  as  the  head  of  the 
army,  or  to  the  people  of  the  respective  States.  If  left  entirely 
with  the  President  he  might  by  military  force  impose  upon  the 
State  a  constitution  against  the  wishes  of  both  the  loyal  and 
disloyal.  The  Senator  frankly  admitted  that  neither  House 
would  be  under  any  obligation  to  receive  members  sent  from  a 
State  so  constituted. 

"  But,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  if  the  people  —  the  loyal 
masses,  whether  a  majority  or  a  minority  of  the  whole  voting 
population  as  formerly  known  —  participated  in  its  creation 
and  acquiesce  in  the  revival  of  the  State  government,  the  case 
though  inaugurated  by  the  President  in  my  judgment  would 
be  very  different.  According  to  the  theory  of  our  Govern 
ment,  and  its  practice  in  all  its  past  time  in  analogous  cases, 
it  would  seem  that  whether  Congress  or  the  President  inau 
gurated  the  proceeding,  the  constitution  can  only  receive  its 
validity  and  authority  from  the  approval  or  acquiescence  of 
the  people  to  be  affected;  and  that  brings  me  to  consider 
how  the  people  in  the  seceded  States  shall  revive  their  gov 
ernments,  and  who  are  the  legally  qualified  voters  for  that 
purpose  in  these  States. 

"  At  the  threshold  of  the  inquiry  we  are  met  with  the  ob 
jection  that  the  States  are  now  without  officers  of  any  kind 
legally  elected,  and  that  of  themselves  they  are  powerless  to 
inaugurate  any  movement  to  set  up  a  loyal  government.  It 
is  said  they  have  no  officials  to  superintend  the  election,  to 
count  the  votes,  and  grant  certificates  of  election.  However 


350     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

desirable  these  formalities  may  be,  it  has  not  been  the  uni 
form  practice  of  Congress  to  require  them." 

In  the  case  of  California,  continued  Mr.  Henderson,  the 
first  election  was  called  by  the  military  order  of  a  subordinate 
officer  of  the  army,  a  delegate  convention  was  chosen,  a  con 
stitution  was  framed  by  that  assembly  and  submitted  to  Con 
gress.  It  was  accepted  as  republican  in  form,  and  under  it  a 
State  government  was  inaugurated  that  for  fifteen  years 
had  been  administered  with  the  greatest  success.  The  terri 
tory,  he  said,  was  wholly  without  civil  authorities  recog 
nized  by  the  United  States.  Congress  had  passed  no  enabling 
act,  had  prescribed  no  forms  of  proceeding,  had  failed  to 
fix  the  qualifications  of  voters,  had  appointed  no  judges  of 
election  or  other  officers  to  count  and  certify  the  votes;  yet 
the  act,  however  informal,  was  ratified  because  the  constitu 
tion  on  its  face  was  unobjectionable  in  form,  and  it  was 
believed  that  the  people  interested  acquiesced  in  the  govern 
ment  it  established. 

If  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  added  Mr.  Henderson,  had 
acquiesced  in  the  government  set  up  under  Dorr,  Congress 
and  the  Executive  would  have  recognized  it  as  legitimate. 
The  Senator  from  Kentucky  contended  that  although  a  major 
ity  of  the  legal  and  qualified  voters  of  Louisiana  should  acqui 
esce  in  the  new  constitution  Congress  could  not  admit  the 
State.  In  support  of  his  view  Mr.  Henderson  pointed  to  the 
State  government  of  Missouri,  which  was  the  offspring  of  a 
movement  purely  revolutionary. 

In  the  States  whose  representatives  were  seeking  admission 
to  Congress  but  one  government  asked  recognition,  and  what 
if  these  organizations  were  of  revolutionary  origin?  —  the 
revolution  was  on  the  side  of  loyalty.  Revolutionary  gov 
ernments  had  been  accepted  in  time  of  peace  —  governments 
springing  up  in  the  midst  of  anarchy,  without  the  sanctions 
of  regularity;  why,  he  asked,  should  they  be  rejected  now 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  351 

when  they  were  needed  to  protect  the  loyal  inhabitants  of 
the  respective  States  and  to  aid  the  nation  in  vindicating  its 
lost  authority  ? 

The  assertion  that  on  the  face  of  these  constitutions  they 
were  republican  in  form  Senator  Sumner  denied..  They  did 
not  follow  out  the  principles  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  This 
general  answer  was  unsatisfactory,  and  Mr.  Henderson  said 
that  the  only  question  with  him  was  how  could  he  best  get 
these  States  performing  their  legitimate  functions  in  the  Union 
again.  If,  as  the  Massachusetts  Senator  maintained,  the  act 
of  secession  took  the  States  out,  why  could  not  the  act  of  loyal 
men  bring  them  back?  If  secession,  he  argued,  was  potent 
enough  to  take  a  State  out,  and  that  was  mere  revolution,  why 
could  not  the  loyal  men  perfect  a  revolution  on  the  side  of 
Government  as  well  as  rebels  perfect  a  revolution  on  the  side 
of  secession,  outrage  and  wrong  ? 

The  doctrine  that  secession  took  the  States  out  of  the 
Union,  Sumner  objected  to  have  imputed  to  him.  A  subse 
quent  remark  indicated  one  ground  of  his  opposition  to  the 
government  of  Louisiana.  "  If  the  loyal  men,  white  and 
black,  recognize  it,  then,"  he  declared,  "  it  will  be  republican 
in  form.  Unless  that  is  done,  it  will  not  be. 

When  asked  whether  Congress  could  interfere  with  the 
right  of  suffrage  in  one  of  the  States,  Sumner  evaded  a  can 
did  reply,  and  concealed  his  meaning  under  these  words: 
"It  is  the  bounden  duty  of  the  United  States  by  act  of  Con 
gress  to  guarantee  complete  freedom  to  every  citizen,  and 
immunity  from  all  oppression,  and  absolute  equality  before 
the  law."  No  government  that  does  not  guarantee  these 
things,  he  added,  can  be  recognized  as  republican  in  form 
according  to  the  theory  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  if  the 
United  States  are  called  upon  to  enforce  the  constitutional 
guaranty. 

Senator  Henderson,  interpreting  this  answer  in  the  affirma- 


352     LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

tive,  observed  that  if  under  the  guaranty  clause  the  national 
Legislature  could  regulate  the  suffrage  in  the  States,  there 
was  no  limitation  except  the  mere  discretion  of  Congress.  In 
support  of  this  position  he  cited  Madison  in  No.  43  of  The 
Federalist,  and  of  course  had  this  part  of  the  argument  his 
own  way,  for  the  test  of  a  republican  form  satisfactory  to 
the  Massachusetts  Senator  would  leave  few  representatives 
in  Congress. 

Mr.  Henderson  denied  that  the  admission  of  Senators  and 
Representatives  from  these  commonwealths  would  be  a  prece 
dent  for  other  States  to  demand  recognition,  even  with  the 
institution  of  slavery,  thus  bringing  back  the  germs  of  a  new 
rebellion  against  the  Government;  because  in  the  constitutions 
presented  involuntary  servitude  was  abolished.  With  slavery 
remaining  any  restoration  would  be  utterly  useless.  It  was 
against  union  with  the  free  States  that  the  Southern  people 
had  taken  up  arms,  and  against  restoration  that  they  continued 
to  use  them.  In  that  struggle  they  would  employ  every  moral 
and  material  force,  including  the  slave  himself,  stimulated  by 
the  boon  of  freedom,  to  resist  the  return  of  their  States. 
Whatever  the  future  might  bring,  it  would  fail  to  bring  to  the 
doors  of  Congress  seeking  admission  a  State  constitution 
without  a  positive  interdict  of  slavery. 

To  the  objection  that  a  majority  of  the  people  of  these  States 
were  in  rebellion  and  that  to  recognize  the  loyal  minority 
would  be  to  subvert  the  whole  republican  system  Senator  Hen 
derson  replied  that  if  it  were  strictly  true  that  a  majority  in 
a  particular  community  "  not  only  shall  but  must  govern/' 
then  a  majority  of  legal  voters  in  a  State  desiring  to  secede 
would  have  the  undoubted  right  to  do  so.  As  no  principle  of 
the  General  Government  authorized  such  action,  it  was  not 
true,  he  said,  that  a  majority  of  citizens  in  a  State  can  govern 
themselves  except  in  strict  obedience  to  the  Constitution  of 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  353 

the  United  States.  If  a  majority  proved  derelict  and  under 
took  to  destroy  the  very  Government  of  which  the  State  is 
a  part,  it  is  right  that  the  minority,  who  sustain  the  Govern 
ment  in  its  entirety,  State  and  national,  should  institute  gov 
ernment  for  their  protection.  He  admitted  that  General 
Banks  did  a  great  many  things  for  which  there  was  no  legal 
authority;  but  the  question  was  whether  this  constitution  was 
the  will  of  the  loyal  men  of  Louisiana.  If  it  was,  their  repre 
sentatives  had  a  right  to  seats  on  the  floor  of  Congress. 

In  reply  to  Sumner,  Senator  Henderson  said  he  favored 
the  idea  that  the  loyal  men  should  govern  a  State,  and  he 
added,  if  that  be  the  government  of  the  few  it  results  from 
the  voluntary  disloyalty  of  the  many.  They,  of  their  own 
will,  had  relinquished  the  right  to  govern  themselves  under 
the  Constitution,  and  as  they  had  no  right  to  govern  them 
selves  otherwise  they  could  not  govern  at  all.  As  to  the 
oligarchy  of  skin,  to  which  Sumner  had  referred,  Henderson 
believed  that  the  regulation  of  the  suffrage  was  a  question  for 
the  consideration  of  the  States;  if  they  conferred  the  franchise 
on  the  negro,  he  did  not  object. 

As  to  the  Louisiana  constitution  the  question  was  whether 
it  embodied  the  will  of  those  legally  entitled  to  exercise  the 
functions  of  the  State  government.  If  the  casting  of  illegal 
votes  vitiated  elections,  but  few  elections,  he  asserted,  would 
be  valid. 

If  those  States  were  admitted,  they  could  immediately 
settle  all  questions  of  suffrage,  and  Congress  would  be  re 
lieved  of  the  difficulty  in  future.  He  put  clearly  the  differ 
ence  of  opinion  prevailing  among  Senators  on  this  subject 
when  he  stated  that  Mr.  Powell  objected  to  the  new  constitu 
tion  of  Louisiana  because  negro  soldiers  were  permitted  to 
vote,  while  Mr.  Sumner  opposed  it  because  negroes  at  home 
did  not  vote.  Concluding  this  part  of  his  speech,  he  declared 


354    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

that  the  Federal  Government  by  recognizing  the  old  organiza 
tion  in  Rhode  Island  against  Dorr  expressed  its  preference 
for  a  constitution  of  restricted  suffrage. 

Without  naming  his  authority  Henderson  then  read  from 
a  private  letter  the  opinion  of  a  gentleman  whom  he  regarded 
as  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  in  the  United  States.1  The  cor 
respondent  said  in  part : 

It  must  be  observed  that  the  civil  society,  and  the  political  society  so 
to  speak,  of  a  State  need  not  necessarily  do  [be]  the  same.  In  other 
words  the  basis  of  representation  may  be  the  whole  population,  but  the 
basis  of  suffrage  be  property,  adult  years,  &c.  The  power  to  choose 
rulers  is  lodged  in  the  voters,  and  they  may  not  exceed  one  tenth  of 
the  population.  .  .  .  That  portion  of  the  population  in  which  political 
power  is  lodged,  determines  who  shall  fill  the  respective  offices,  make 
laws,  etc:  Although  the  members  of  that  society  may  have  possessed 
every  requisite  therefor,  yet  the  moment  they  ceased  to  be  citizens  of  the 
United  States  they  ceased  to  belong  thereto. 

That  rule  holds  good  with  respect  to  every  member,  and  the  political 
society  may,  by  death,  disqualification  of  members,  &c.,  be  reduced  to  a 
very  few  persons.  To  state  an  extreme  case,  for  illustration  of  the  prin 
ciple,  Massachusetts  formerly  had  a  property  qualification,  and  although 
her  population  entitled  her  to,  say,  thirteen  Representatives  in  the 
United  States  House,  her  voters  may  not  have  exceeded  fifty  thousand. 
Suppose  while  that  qualification  remained,  by  some  financial  or  other 
disaster,  only  one  thousand  or  one  hundred  citizens  retained  the  neces 
sary  income  or  property,  would  not  the  persons  chosen  to  Congress  by 
the  few  and  only  remaining  voters  be  duly  elected?  So  with  regard  to 
any  other  element  of  suffrage,  as  United  States  citizenship,  if  by  its 
loss  the  voters  are  reduced  to  very  few  in  number,  do  not  those  few 
constitute  the  political  or  voting  power?  As  to  the  policy  or  impolicy 
of  restricted  suffrage,  we  are  not  now  concerned,  but  are  endeavoring  to 
reach  a  constitutional  and  legal  analysis  of  our  governmental  system. 

But  here  is  encountered  the  startling  and  practical  difficulty,  "  Shall  a 
few  persons  be  permitted  to  govern  a  State,  despite  the  wishes  of  its 
inhabitants,  and  without  giving  them  all  a  voice  ?  Is  that  republican  ?  " 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  few  voters,  say  one  seventh,  or 
one  tenth  of  the  whole  population,  have  always  been  intrusted  with  that 

1  While  this  chapter  was  in  press  an  interesting  letter  from  Senator 
Henderson  informed  the  author  that  the  Hon.  Samuel  Treat,  of  St. 
Louis,  formerly  Judge  of  the  United  States  Court  for  the  Eastern  Dis 
trict  of  Missouri,  is  the  distinguished  jurist  referred  to  in  the  text. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  355 

power.  Wisdom  has  fixed  the  basis  of  suffrage,  without  regard  to  rela 
tive  numbers;  that  is,  it  has  endeavored,  under  our  popular  system,  to 
give  the  right  or  privilege  to  as  many  citizens  as  were  supposed  competent 
to  exercise  it  intelligently.  The  rules  prescribed  as  to  age,  sex,  citizen 
ship,  &c.,  were  deemed  essential,  right,  and  proper.  Whether  many  or 
few  come  within  the  rules  does  not  affect  their  validity.  ...  If 
persons  heretofore  entitled  to  a  vote  chose  to  commit  a  felony,  and  incur 
thereby,  as  a  penalty,  the  deprivation  of  their  former  right  of  suffrage, 
it  is  not  supposed  that  the  loss  of  such  votes  is  anti-republican.  If,  then, 
a  majority  choose  to  perpetrate  treason,  or  to  expatriate  themselves,  or 
in  any  other  way  become  disqualified,  how  does  that  action  vitiate  the 
rule?  If  they,  after  becoming  disqualified,  remain  in  the  State,  are  they 
not  bound  to  submit  to  its  rulers  and  laws?  If  their  rulers  are  chosen 
without  their  voice,  is  it  not  in  consequence  of  their  own  voluntary  action  ? 
Indeed,  it  often  happens  that  the  persons  elected  to  office  receive  only  a 
meager  minority  of  the  votes  which  could  have  been  lawfully  polled,  yet 
that  fact  has  no  influence  upon  the  legal  result.  So  a  person  is  often 
chosen  by  a  minority  of  the  votes  actually  cast,  and  is  not  the  majority 
bound  to  submit? 

The  author  of  this  letter  appears  to^have  been  more  famil 
iar  with  the  Constitution,  as  it  was  understood  by  its  framers, 
than  almost  any  member  of  either  House,  notwithstanding  the 
[presence  in  Congress  of  many  distinguished  statesmen.  In 
the  following  eight  propositions  Mr.  Henderson  then  gave  a 
masterly  summary  of  the  Presidential  plan  of  reconstruction : 

1.  I  hold  that  the  seceded  States  are  still  in  the  Union  and  cannot  get 
out  of  it  except  through  amendment  of  the  Constitution  permitting  it. 

2.  The  seceded  States  being  still  in  the  Union  are  entitled  to  claim  all 
the  rights  accorded  to  other  States. 

3.  That  each  State  now  in  the  Union  has  the  right  to  stand  upon  the 
form  of  its  constitution  as  it  existed  at  the  time  of  its  admission.    The 
people  of  such  State  may  change  its  constitution,  provided  they  retain  a 
republican  form  of  government;    but  neither  the  President  nor  Con 
gress  can  reform,  alter,  or  amend  such  constitution,  nor  prescribe  any 
alteration  or  amendment  as  a  condition  of  association  with  the  other 
States  of  the  Union.    The  General  Government  may  properly  lend  its 
aid  to  enable  the  people  to  express  their  will;    but  any  attempt  to  exer 
cise  power  constitutionally  reserved  to  the  State,  beyond  what  may  be 
demanded  by  the  immediate  exigencies  of  war,  will  not  tend  to  restore 
the  Union,  but  rather  to  destroy  our  whole  system  of  government. 

4.  When  citizens  of  a  State  rebel  and  take  up  arms  against  the  General 


356    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Government  they  lose  their  rights  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and 
they  necessarily  forfeit  those  rights  and  franchises  in  their  respective 
States  which  depend  on  United  States  citizenship. 

5.  If  a  seceded  State  be  still  in  the  Union,  entitled  to  recognition  as  a 
State,  and  a  majority  of  the  people  have  voluntarily  withdrawn  their 
allegiance,  the  loyal  minority  constitute  the  State  and  should  govern  it. 

6.  Congress  should  not  reject  the  governments  presented  because  of 
mere  irregularity  in  the  proceedings  leading  to  their  reorganization. 

7.  If  Congress  has  no  right  to  make  and  impose  a  constitution  upon 
the  people  of  any  State;    if  its  power  extends  no  further  than  to  guar 
anty  preexisting   republican    forms   of  government;     if  the    State   still 
exists,  and  the  loyal  men  are  entitled  to  exercise  the  functions  of  its 
government,  it  follows  that  the  only  questions  to  be  examined  here  are, 
first,  is  the  constitution  the  will  of  the  loyal  men  qualified  to  act?    and, 
second,  is  it  republican  in  form? 

8.  The  constitutions   of  Louisiana  and   Arkansas  are  thought  to  be 
republican   in   form,   and   it   is   admitted   that   the   loyal   men   of   those 
States  respectively  acquiesce  in  them.     Hence  the  duty  of  Congress  to 
recognize   them,   and   the   duty   of   each  House   to   admit   their   repre 
sentatives.1 

On  February  25  debate  on  Trumbull's  resolution  was  re 
sumed.  At  this  point  Mr.  Sumner  offered  an  amendment  in 
substance  as  follows: 

That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United  States  at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment,  consistent  with  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare,  to 
reestablish  by  act  of  Congress  republican  governments  in  those  States 
where  loyal  governments  have  been  vacated  by  the  existing  rebellion, 
and  thus,  to  the  full  extent  of  their  power,  fulfil  the  requirement  of  the 
Constitution  that  "  the  United  States  shall  guaranty  to  every  State  in 
this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government." 

Sec.  2.  And  be  it  further  resolved,  That  this  important  duty  is  imposed 
by  the  Constitution  in  express  terms  on  "the  United  States,"  and  not 
on  individuals  or  classes  of  individuals,  or  on  any  military  commander 
or  executive  officer,  and  cannot  be  intrusted  to  any  such  persons,  acting, 
it  may  be,  for  an  oligarchical  class,  and  in  disregard  of  large  numbers  of 
loyal  people ;  but  it  must  be  performed  by  the  United  States,  represented 
by  the  President  and  both  Houses  of  Congress,  acting  for  the  whole 
people  thereof. 

Sec.  3.  And  be  it  further  resolved,  That,  in  determining  the  extent  of 
this  duty,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  precise  definition  of  the  term 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1065-1070. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  357 

"  republican  form  of  government,"  we  cannot  err,  if,  when  called  to 
perform  this  guaranty  under  the  Constitution,  we  adopt  the  self-evident 
truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  as  an  authoritative  rule, 
and  insist  that  in  every  reestablished  State  the  consent  of  the  governed 
shall  be  the  only  just  foundation  of  government,  and  all  men  shall  be 
equal  before  the  law. 

Not  less  important  is  the  declaration  in  the  fourth  section 
that  "  in  the  performance  of  this  guaranty,  there  can  be 
no  power  under  the  Constitution  to  disfranchise  loyal  peo 
ple,  or  to  recognize  any  such  disfranchisement,  especially 
when  it  may  hand  over  the  loyal  majority  to  the  government 
of  the  disloyal  minority;  nor  can  there  be  any  power  under 
the  Constitution  to  discriminate  in  favor  of  the  rebellion 
by  admitting  to  the  electoral  franchise  rebels  who  have  for 
feited  all  rights  and  by  excluding  loyal  persons  who  have 
never  forfeited  any  right."  To  allow  the  reestablishment  of 
any  State  without  proper  safeguards  for  the  rights  of  all  the 
citizens,  and  especially  without  making  it  impossible  for  reb 
els  to  trample  upon  the  rights  of  those  who  are  now  fighting 
the  battles  of  the  Union,  would  be,  said  the  succeeding  sec 
tion,  for  the  United  States  to  fail  in  duty  under  the  Consti 
tution. 

More  directly  in  opposition  to  the  resolution  reported  by 
the  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  however,  was  the 
seventh  section,  which  declared  "  That  a  government  founded 
on  military  power,  or  having  its  origin  in  military  orders, 
cannot  be  a  '  republican  form  of  government '  according  to 
the  requirement  of  the  Constitution;  and  that  its  recognition 
will  be  contrary  not  only  to  the  Constitution,  but  also  to 
that  essential  principle  of  our  Government  which,  in  the 
language  of  Jefferson,  establishes  '  the  supremacy  of  the  civil 
over  the  military  authority/  ' 

The  resolutions  further  asserted  that  a  government 
founded  on  an  oligarchical  class,  even  if  erroneously  recog 
nized  as  a  "  republican  form  of  government,"  could  not  sus- 


358    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

tain  itself  without  national  support;  that  such  an  organization 
was  not  at  that  moment  competent  to  discharge  the  duties  and 
execute  the  powers  of  a  State,  and  that  its  recognition  would 
tend  to  enfeeble  the  Union,  to  postpone  the  day  of  reconcilia 
tion  and  to  endanger  the  national  tranquillity.  The  ninth 
section  renders  clear  one  ground  of  Sumner's  hostility  to  the 
recognition  of  Louisiana.  It  asserts  that 

Considerations  of  expediency  are  in  harmony  with  the  requirements 
of  the  Constitution,  and  the  dictates  of  justice  and  reason,  especially 
now,  when  colored  soldiers  have  shown  their  military  value ;  that  as  their 
muskets  are  needed  for  the  national  defence  against  rebels  in  the  field, 
so  are  their  ballots  yet  more  needed  against  the  subtle  enemies  of  the 
Union  at  home;  and  that  without  their  support  at  the  ballot-box  the 
cause  of  human  rights  and  of  the  Union  itself  will  be  in  constant 
peril.1 

It  was  agreed  on  motion  of  Mr.  Sumner  to  have  his  amend 
ment  printed. 

Senator  Howard,  of  Michigan,  entered  at  this  point  into 
the  debate.  Much  of  what  he  said  has  already  been  related 
in  the  preceding  narration  of  events  leading  up  to  the  rein- 
auguration  of  a  loyal  government  in  Louisiana.  While  ad 
mitting  that  the  President's  plan  had  been  undertaken  for 
patriotic  ends,  he  could  not,  he  said,  recognize  in  the  Execu 
tive,  without  the  subsidiary  aid  of  an  act  of  Congress,  any 
right  to  assure  a  community,  composed  of  voters  numbering 
one  tenth  of  the  electors  who  participated  in  the  Presidential 
contest  of  1860,  that  it  would  be  recognized  as  a  legitimate 
government  and  entitled  to  the  constitutional  guaranty.  This, 
he  said,  was  a  stretch  of  authority  beyond  any  previous  at 
tempt,  and  he  thought  it  time  that  Congress,  in  whom, 
he  believed,  rested  solely  the  authority  of  readmitting 
and  reconstructing  the  rebellious  States,  "  should  lay  hold 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1091. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  359 

of  this  subject,  assert  their  power,  and  provide  by  some  statute 
of  uniform  application  for  the  reconstruction,  as  it  is  called, 
and  readmission  of  the  insurrectionary  States.  That  is  their 
right  and  their  duty;  that  is  not  the  right,  it  is  not  the  duty  of 
the  President." 

A  State  he  defined  negatively  as  not  "  the  geographical 
superficies,"  the  land,  on  which  population  resides,  and  posi 
tively  as  "  a  moral  person,  a  political  community,  possessing 
the  faculty  of  political  government."  The  land,  he  said,  is 
the  theatre  on  which  the  political  community  moves  and  acts, 
but  is  endowed  with  no  thought,  no  right,  no  duty.,  The 
thinking  beings  residing  upon  it  constitute  the  State.1 

"  A  State  of  the  Union  or  a  State  in  the  Union  is,  there 
fore,  a  people  yielding  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  Union, 
that  is,  the  acts  of  Congress  and  the  national  treaties. 
.  .  .  A  people  who  have  a  State  government  which  is 
republican  in  form;  a  people  who  were  one  of  the  original 
thirteen  States  which  formed  the  United  States,  or  a  people 
who  have,  since  the  adoption  of  t;he  Constitution,  been,  in 
the  language  of  that  Constitution,  '  admitted  by  the  Congress 
into  this  Union '  as  States  upon  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States;  for  this  equality  of  rights  and  powers  as 
States  is  plainly  implied  by  the  language  and  the  manifest 
intention  of  the  instrument;  and  no  other  people  except  such 
original  State  or  admitted  State;  none  but  a  State  which  per 
mits  the  laws  of  the  Union  to  have  full  scope  and  force  within 
its  limits;  none  but  a  State  which  sends  Senators  and  Repre 
sentatives  to  Congress  friendly  to  the  Government  itself,  will 
ing  to  vote  men  and  money  to  support  and  uphold  it,  who  be 
lieve  that  a  person  forcibly  resisting  its  authority  is  a  traitor 
and  deserving  of  death;  none  but  a  State  which  is  willing  to 

1  In  support  of  this  view  the  Senator  cited  Penhallow's  Case,  3  Dallas, 
p.  94- 


360    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

bring  to  trial,  to  convict  such  a  traitor,  and  to  punish  him  for 
his  treason;  none  but  a  State  whose  population  is  capable  of 
furnishing  both  the  grand  jury  to  indict  and  the  traverse  jury 
to  convict  such  a  traitor;  none  but  a  State  whose  population 
and  whose  authorities  are  in  favor  not  only  of  permitting  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  relating  to  civil  rights  to  be  ex 
ecuted,  but  who  are  willing  that  the  punitive  code  of  the 
nation,  the  code  of  vengeance  against  its  enemies,  shall  be 
carried  out ;  none  but  such  are  States  of  the  Union.  .  ... 

"  To  be  in  fact  a  State  of  the  Union  and  in  the  Union,  this 
will  or  consent  of  the  people  must  be  in  harmony  with  the 
Constitution,  and  its  movements  subsidiary  to  it.  It  must 
regard  the  Constitution  as  its  highest  political  good;  its  in 
junctions  as  the  highest  human  law,  its  commands  as  the 
infallible  and  final  measure  of  civil  duty.  In  short,  to  be  in 
the  Union  is  to  be  actively  and  willingly  cooperating  with 
other  States  in  the  performance  of  all  those  acts  and  things 
without  which  the  Federal  Government  cannot  act  or  move, 
cannot  perform  the  functions  required  of  it  by  the  Constitu 
tion;  it  is  to  elect  Senators  and  Representatives  to  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States;  to  permit  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  to  be  held  within  their  limits,  and  its  citizens  to  act  as 
jurors  and  officers  of  the  court;  to  permit  the  judgments  and 
sentences  of  the  court  to  be  executed  against  its  citizens;  to 
permit  the  United  States  mail  to  be  carried  through  the  State 
and  its  contents  distributed  according  to  law;  to  permit  the 
officers  of  the  United  States  to  collect  the  Federal  revenue 
whether  derived  from  foreign  or  domestic  products;  to  per 
mit  the  United  States  to  manage  and  control  their  own  prop 
erty,  whether  consisting  of  forts,  dockyards,  arsenals,  mints, 
or  public  lands;  to  make  such  elections  of  Senators  and  Rep 
resentatives  freely  and  as  the  means  of  maintaining  itself  as 
a  State  in  the  Union;  and  to  permit  all  these  things  willingly 
and  freely  as  rights  belonging  to  the  Federal  Government 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  361 

with  which  neither  the  State  government  nor  the  people  of 
the  State  have  any  right  whatever  to  interfere.  In  short,  to 
be  a  State  in  the  Union  is  to  use  all  those  powers  of  the 
State  which  have  a  relation  to  the  Federal  Government  in  a 
manner  friendly  to  that  Government,  friendly  to  its  existence 
and  continuance,  in  a  manner  promotive  of  the  objects  of  that 
Government;  and  to  permit  without  hindrance  the  exercise 
within  the  State  of  all  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment." 

Though  he  declined  to  discuss  the  question  whether  a  State 
by  omitting  to  send  Representatives  and  Senators  to  Congress 
would  on  that  account  cease  to  be  a  member  of  the  Union,  he 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  mere  failure  to  be  represented  in 
Congress  would  not  be  followed  by  such  consequences;  but  if 
a  State  not  only  refused  to  participate  in  Federal  legislation 
but  went  farther,  and  as  a  political  community  made  war 
upon  the  General  Government,  he  declared  that  "  it  would  be 
folly,  madness,  to  say  that  the  State  was  not  our  enemy  in 
every  sense  in  which  that  term  can  be  employed  to  describe 
hostile  relations  between  independent  communities.  .  .  . 
No  one  will  pretend  that  such  a  community  is  in  the  Union 
in  fact,  for  that  would  be  to  make  an  admission  and  in  the 
same  breath  to  contradict  it.  De  facto,  such  a- community, 
and,  if  it  be  bounded  by  State  lines,  such  a  State,  is  as  com 
pletely  out  of  the  Union  as  is  Canada  or  'Mexico,  from  the 
moment  it  assumes  the  attitude  of  hostility  until  it  is  subdued 
and  conquered  by  our  arms,  or  until  it  voluntarily  lays  down 
its  arms,  ejects  its  hostile  government  and  returns  in  fact  to 
its  once  friendly  sentiments  and  friendly  relations  to  the 
Federal  Government." 

"  Loyalty,"  continued  Senator  Howard,  "  thus  becomes  the 
final  test  in  solving  the  question,  what  is  a  State  in  the  Union  ? 
If  a  State  by  its  overt  acts  has  shown  a  want  of  this  friendship, 
it  is  no  longer  in  the  Union  de  facto,  and  cannot  be  treated 


362    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

as  if  it  were.  The  Supreme  Court,  acting  upon  the  soundest 
principles  of  public  law,  have  decided  the  waging  of  war  by 
a  State,  although  acting  under  an  illegitimate  and  revolution 
ary  government,  renders  her  territory  enemy's  territory,  and 
the  people  there  resident  enemies  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
sense  of  the  laws  of  war.  And  their  decision  could  not  have 
been  different." 

The  State,  he  argued  further,  was  in  fact,  though  wrong 
fully,  out  of  the  Union  because  its  actual  government  was 
disloyal  and  treasonable.  Out  of  it  because  unsubdued  re 
bellion  made  it  for  the  time  being  an  independent  though 
unrecognized  nation  on  the  earth's  surface,  throwing  off  its 
allegiance  to  its  paramount  Government,  and  assuming  by 
the  sword  to  assert  its  separate  nationality. 

"  But  we  are  at  war  with  the  rebel  States,  and  are  told 
.  .  ,  that  the  Government,  so  far  at  least  as  the  rebel 
States  are  concerned,  is  under  some  peculiar  constitutional 
restraint  by  which  its  hands  are  tied;  that  we  are  prohibited 
from  'subjugating'  those  States;  that  all  we  can  do,  under 
the  Constitution,  is  to  break  up  the  military  array  of  the 
rebels,  disperse  their  armed  bands,  take  away  their  arms,  and 
do  that  very  indefinite  duty,  restore  order;  that  thereupon 
our  task  is  ended  and  the  rebel  States  have  a  constitutional 
right  to  come  back  into  the  Union  and  participate  in  the 
enactment  of  Federal  laws  and  the  conduct  of  the  Federal 
Government.  And  we  are  menaced  both  in  Congress  and  out 
with  terrible  retributions  if  we  conquer  or  attempt  to  conquer, 
if  we  subjugate  or  attempt  to  subjugate,  the  rebel  States.  It 
is  admitted  by  these  our  critics  that  in  an  international  war 
.  .  .  we  should  have  all  the  rights  and  powers  of  other 
independent  nations,  and  might  rightfully  conquer  our  adver 
sary,  .  ..-  .  that  we  might  make  a  complete  conquest 
of  his  people  and  his  territory.  .  .  i  ;< 

"  Now,  it  is  lawful  to  wage  such  a  foreign  war,  for 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  363 

the  purpose  of  effectuating  such  a  complete  conquest,  and 
of  course  lawful  to  attain  it;  .  .  .  lawful  to  substitute 
the  political  authority  of  the  United  States  for  that  of  a 
hostile  foreign  nation;"  otherwise,  he  argued,  the  war  could 
not  be  a  successful  one;  hence  in  a  war  with  a  member  of  the 
Union  the  United  States  could  substitute  for  the  authority  of 
such  hostile  commonwealth  its  own  authority.  There  was  no 
difference  between  the  two  cases.  The  former  actual  hostile 
government  should  be  supplanted  by  the  Federal  Govern 
ment.  No  other  government  had  a  right  to  give  the  law. 
Had  the  conquered  rebel  people  that  right?  No;  for  that 
would  be  to  allow  them  at  once  to  expel  their  conquerors  by 
a  popular  decree,  and  to  deny  the  supremacy  of  the  Federal 
Government  which  had  subdued  them.  Had  the  old  State 
government,  he  asked,  the  once  loyal  government,  the  right 
to  govern  the  conquered  people?  No;  there  was  no  such 
government.  It  had  long  since  ceased  to  exist.  "  In  fact, 
there  is  no  government  there,  none  at  all,  which  can  for  a 
moment  be  recognized  or  permitted  by  the  United  States,  as 
the  party  now  holding  the  actual  mastery  of  the  country; 
and  like  every  other  case  where  the  possession  of  a  country 
has  arisen  from  the  use  of  superior  force,  the  will  of  the 
conqueror  is  the  law  —  that  is,  the  will  of  the  United  States 
expressed,  in  the  absence  of  acts  of  Congress,  by  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Army,  but  by  the  acts  of  Congress 
after  Congress  has  spoken. 

"...  No  one  will  deny  that  we  have  a  right  to  sub 
due  by  arms  and  to  reduce  to  quietude  and  submission  a  rebel 
State,  that  is,  the  people  of  a  State  in  insurrection.  But  how 
absurd  to  make  this  concession,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
deny  to  us  the  constitutional  power  to  occupy  and  hold  the 
territory  and  its  people  in  our  military  grasp  —  an  occupation 
just  as  necessary  to  the  end  in  view  as  the  firing  of  cannon, 
the  charging  of  cavalry,  or  any  other  operation  in  the  field. 


364    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

"...  The  true  objects  of  the  war  ...  are 
the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  the  reestablishment  of  the 
original  Federal  authority  within  the  State,  and  the  revival 
of  the  loyalty  of  the  people  of  the  State  as  the  sole  founda 
tion  and  condition  of  all  its  civil  rights  as  a  State  of  the 
Union  and  of  the  right  of  its  people  to  be  treated  as  friends 
and  not  as  enemies.  Although  the  United  States  have  the 
full  and  complete  right  which  conquest  gives,  for  the  purpose 
of  subjecting  these  domestic  enemies  to  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  granted  by  the  Constitution  to  Congress,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  restoring  to  the  body-politic  its  vital  blood, 
loyalty  to  the  Government,  yet  those  purposes,  those  distinct 
ends,  are  without  doubt  limits  beyond  which  we  cannot  go. 
We  are  restrained  by  the  manifest  objects  for  which  the 
national  Government  was  formed;  but  restrained  by  no  par 
ticular  clause  of  the  Constitution.  The  instrument  contains 
no  such  clause,  and  the  limitation  and  restraint  are  of  pre 
cisely  the  same  nature  as  those  which  any  other  government 
is  under  in  subduing  an  insurrection  of  its  own  subjects  or 
citizens;  the  plain  object  of  the  war  in  both  cases  being  the 
restoration  of  legitimate  authority  and  the  revival  of  alle 
giance.  And  until  this  revival  of  allegiance  there  must  be 
the  same  need  of  military  occupation  and  repression  in  both 
cases." 

After  showing  that  the  existence  of  the  States  is  indispen 
sable  to  that  of  the  Federal  Government,  he  proceeded,  "it 
is  not  permissible  by  mere  interpretation  to  clothe  that  Gov 
ernment  with  a  power  permanently  to  abolish  the  State  gov 
ernment  by  way  of  punishing  or  suppressing  the  rebellion; 
or  to  convert  the  States  into  mere  Territories  of  the  United 
States,  that  is,  public  domain,  to  be  divided  up  afterward  by 
lines  different  from  those  of  the  States,  and  again  admitted 
into  the  Union  like  matured  Territories,  with  such  new 
geographical  limits  as  Congress  may  see  fit  to  establish." 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  365 

Article  IV.,  Section  3,  Clause  i  of  the  Constitution  the  Sen 
ator  regarded  as  an  express  prohibition  to  change  the  boun 
daries  of  any  State  once  in  the  Union  without  its  consent; 
"  its  consent  in  its  capacity  as  a  State,  freely  given  by  its  own 
Legislature."  He  believed  that  the  Amnesty  Proclamation  of 
President  Lincoln  indicated  that  its  author  held  a  different 
opinion. 

He  rejected  the  idea  that  the  rebellious  States  could  be  con 
verted  into  Territories.  This  term,  under  our  system,  he 
added,  "  implies  land  never  lying  in  any  State,  land  ceded  to 
the  United  States  either  by  the  old  States,  or  purchased  or 
conquered  from  foreign  nations.  The  term  never  has  been 
used  to  describe  a  State  or  any  part  of  a  State;  and  it  implies 
not  only  the  ownership  of  the  soil  and  right  of  disposition, 
but  full  and  complete  political  jurisdiction  in  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  over  the  people  resident  there.  .  .  .  " 

The  objects  of  the  conquest  being  as  stated  above,  such 
forcible  occupation  was,  he  continued,  in  its  very  nature  tem 
porary  and  ought  to  cease  the  moment  those  objects  were  at 
tained.  This  could  not  be  done  without  establishing  a  gov 
ernment  to  preserve  order,  life  and  property  —  a  provisional 
government,  for  that  is  the  true  historic  name  to  be  applied 
in  all  cases  where  an  old  government  has  been  overthrown; 
a  provisional  government  instituted  by  the  conqueror,  and  to 
be  continued  just  so  long  as  Congress  deemed  it  necessary  to 
continue  it  for  the  attainment,  and  while  attaining,  those 
high  objects.  The  occupancy,  that  is,  the  possession  of  all 
the  reins  of  local  government  by  the  Federal  authorities 
would  be  but  temporary,  provisional,  fiduciary.  It  should  nec 
essarily  last  until  the  Federal  Government  had  done  its  duty  in 
the  reestablishment  of  order  and  the  revival  of  loyalty.  Until 
then  it  was,  and  should  continue,  the  omnipotent  sovereign  of 
the  State,  holding  actually  by  right  of  conquest,  though  for  a 
particular  purpose,  and  being  itself  necessarily  the  final  judge 


366    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  determine  when  its  tutelary  mission  had  been  accom 
plished. 

He  avoided,  he  said,  a  discussion  of  the  question  whether  a 
State  can  commit  suicide,  that  is,  extinguish  its  own  being  by 
waging  a  rebellious  war  against  the  Federal  Government; 
instead  of  presenting  any  such  abstract  question  of  political 
dialectics,  the  case,  he  declared,  merely  presented  the  usual 
question  which  arose  whenever  and  wherever  there  had  been 
a  forcible  revolution.  What,  he  inquired,  was  the  duty  of  the 
paramount  and  lawful  government  in  its  treatment  of  insur 
gent  communities?  And  was  not  the  Government  doing  its 
whole  duty  in  punishing  the  ringleaders  in  the  revolt  and 
restoring  the  old  and  constitutional  Government  over  those 
districts  ? 

The  Government,  Mr.  Howard  proceeded,  must  be  the  final 
judge  of  the  duration  of  this  military  occupation.     It  was 
bound  by  the  plain  terms  of  the  Constitution  not  only  to  sup 
press  the  insurrection,  which  was  done  the  moment  it  had  ob 
tained  firm  possession  of  the  whole  of  the  hostile  territory,  but 
to  guarantee  to  the  conquered  State  a  republican  form  of  gov 
ernment.     To  perform  this  high  and  sacred  trust,  time  of 
course  was  necessary;  likewise  a  great  variety  of  means  and 
instrumentalities,  "  of  all  which  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  must,  because  it  has  no  superior,  no  equal  in  the 
matter,  be  the  sole  and  final  judge.     These  means  may  em 
brace  acts  of  provisional  legislation,  creating  private  rights 
and  duties  not  previously  in  existence,  but  existing  by  law 
and  of  a  permanent  nature,  paramount  to  all  subsequent  State 
legislation  because  arising  under  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
nation,  as,  for  instance,  the  giving  freedom  to  slaves;  or  they 
may  undoubtedly  embrace  conditions  to  be  performed  by  the 
subdued  States  on  taking  their  places  again  in  the  Union, 
such  as  would  be  an  ordinance  forever  abolishing  slavery 
in  the  State. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  367 

"  Yet  while  thus  in  our  military  power,  awaiting  our  action, 
looking  to  their  restoration,  nothing  is  clearer  than  that  the 
citizens  of  the  rebel  States,  though  owing  obedience  to  all 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  possess  no  political  rights  under 
the  Constitution  except  protection.  They  are  not  free  to  act, 
because  their  freedom  to  act  would,  if  indulged,  lead  them 
again  to  draw  the  sword  against  the  United  States.  .  .  . 
They  have  no  right  to  send  members  to  this  body  or  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  much  less  to  participate  in  the 
election  of  President  and  Vice-President.  They  are  the  ward- 
provinces  of  the  United  States,  progressing  toward  the 
maturity  of  revived  loyalty,  but  not  yet  entitled  to  exercise  the 
elective  franchise  or  to  participate  in  the  enactment  of  laws. 

"  If  I  am  asked  what  I  mean  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  whether  I  mean  that  the  President  as 
Commander-in-Chief  has  the  exclusive  power  to  establish 
these  provisional  governments,  I  answer,  I  do  not.  He  has 
the  right  to  regulate  military  occupation  until  Congress  has 
acted  upon  the  subject;  .  j|  .  but  the  establishment  of 
provisional  governments,  the  quieting  of  the  rebellious  prov 
ince  and  the  reestablishment  of  legitimate  authority  over  it, 
pertains  to  the  sovereign  power,  that  is,  the  law-giving  power 
of  the  nation.  With  us  that  power  is  lodged  in  Congress  and 
not  in  the  President;  and  in  my  opinion  it  is  the  business  of 
Congress,  and  Congress  alone,  to  establish  and  uphold  these 
provisional  governments.  .  .  .  We  need  not  doubt  that 
whatever  we  see  fit  to  enact  will  be  approved  and  carried  out 
by  the  President.  We  cannot  be  more  truly  anxious  than  he 
to  fix  upon  a  stable,  firm  policy  for  restoring  peace  and  union ; 
but  we  ought  not  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  necessities  he  will  con 
tinually  be  under,  to  the  almost  irresistable  importunities  he 
will  encounter,  to  provide  some  sort  of  civil  government  for 
the  subdued  States  or  districts;  or  to  the  consequences  of  leav 
ing  such  mighty  questions  for  him  to  decide.  It  is  our  plain 


368    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

duty  to  establish  a  uniform  rule  on  the  subject,  so  that  all 
may  be  treated  alike  and  the  same  remedy  be  applied  with  a 
paternal  but  firm  and  resolute  hand  to  each  delinquent  State." 

He  opposed  for  two  reasons  the  "  scheme  "  of  allowing 
one  tenth  or  any  other  minor  part  of  the  male  citizens  of 
a  commonwealth  to  organize  a  government  and  assume  to 
act  as  a  State :  first,  "  because  as  against  the  will  of  an 
actual  majority  the  government  of  such  a  minority  must  neces 
sarily  come  to  a  speedy  end  and  thus  invite  a  renewal  of  the 
civil  war,  in  that  locality  at  least;  and  second,  because  gov 
ernment  by  a  minority  is  of  evil  example  and  inconsistent 
with  the  genius  of  American  liberty.  .  •  .  .  As  a  Repub 
lican  I  would  sooner  hazard  ten  slaveholders'  rebellions  than 
risk  liberty  in  a  government  by  a  minority."  In  this  connec 
tion  he  assigned  an  additional  motive  for  his  attitude  toward 
the  resolution.  The  will  of  the  friendly  element,  he  said,  could 
prevail  only  by  military  support,  and  such  an  organization, 
if  intended  as  a  civil  government,  was  not  republican  in  the 
sense  of  the  Constitution.  When  such  aid  was  withdrawn  the 
majority,  he  asserted,  would  wreak  vengeance  on  the 
weakened  minority. 

Concluding  this  part  of  his  argument,  he  added :  "  The 
measure  now  before  you  proposes  to  acknowledge  eight  thou 
sand  citizens  of  Louisiana  as  a  State,  and  to  give  them  the 
rights  and  privileges  exercised  by  a  voting  population  of  more 
than  fifty  thousand  in  1860.  Eight  thousand  are  thus  to 
give  the  law  or  assume  to  give  it  to  forty-two  thousand  —  to 
more  than  five  times  their  number.  This  they  may  do  so 
long  as  their  decrees  are  sustained  by  the  presence  and  con 
sent  of  a  competent  military  force;  but  we  all  know,  both 
parties  there  know,  the  world  knows,  and,  sir,  posterity  will 
know,  that  it  is  not  the  eight  thousand  who  govern  the  State, 
but  the  fear  of  the  bayonet,  and  the  fear  is  inspired  solely  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  as  Commander-in-Chief 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  369 

of  the  Army  and  Navy !  Disguise  it,  or  attempt  to  disguise 
it,  as  we  may,  to  this  complexion  doth  it  come  at  last.  Yes, 
sir,  both  the  eight  thousand  and  the  forty-two  thousand  voters 
are  governed  not  by  themselves,  but  by  the  bayonet !  And  this 
is  at  present  the  only  government  in  Louisiana.  The  object 
of  the  present  measure  is  to  continue  this  hybrid,  unnatural 
government  there.  It  allows  the  meager  and  almost  con 
temptible  proportion  of  less  than  one  sixth  of  the  voting 
population  to  govern  the  whole  State,  and  to  have  the  in 
fluence  of  the  whole  State  in  our  legislation  here,  while  we 
know  that  if  the  military  forces  were  withdrawn  that  privi 
leged  one  sixth  part  would  be  swept  away  like  chaff  before 
the  hurricane  breath  of  the  enraged  majority.  Sir,  such  a 
government  is  the  merest  bubble,  especially  if  unsustained  by 
military  power.  This  is  too  obvious  to  need  further  com 
ment." 

"  All  this  we  might  possibly  endure,"  continued  Senator 
Howard,  "  were  it  not  that  the  measure  before  us  clothes 
this  mockery  of  a  government,  this  king  of  shreds  and  patches, 
this  mistletoe  State  regime  that  falls  to  the  earth  the  moment 
it  ceases  to  cling  around  the  flag-staff  of  the  national  forces, 
with  the  high  attribute  of  voting  upon  and  determining  ques 
tions  of  legislation,  questions  of  war  or  peace,  questions  of 
prosecuting  or  ceasing  to  prosecute  the  present  war,  in  this 
Hall  and  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  This 
measure  introduces  here  Senators  and  Representatives  whose 
immediate  friends  and  relatives  at  home  have  deliberately 
aided  and  assisted  to  put  to  death  myriads  of  Union  soldiers 
from  the  North,  and  in  swelling  up  that  vast  debt  of  more 
than  two  thousand  million  dollars  which  now  rests  upon  the 
country.  Think  you  that  such  Senators  and  Representatives, 
whose  constituents  have  already  been  stripped  of  their  prop 
erty  by  the  rebel  government,  and  brought  down  to  the  depths 
of  poverty;  a  community  without  the  habits  of  labor  among 


370    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  intelligent  classes;  naked,  hungry,  despondent  and  sullen; 
think  you  that  their  Representatives  would  at  the  present  time 
be  safe  depositories  of  the  power  to  tax  their  constituents  to 
pay  this  debt  ?  Is  it  not,  on  the  other  hand,  the  part  of  pru 
dence  to  guard  against  the  contingency  of  having  that  debt  re 
pudiated  by  such  legislators  and  the  still  more  disgraceful 
contingency  of  being,  by  their  votes,  aided  by  a  Northern 
party,  finally  compelled  to  pay  the  rebel  debt  of  $4,000,000,- 
ooo?  And  tell  me,  what  right  has  Louisiana,  the  majority 
of  whose  population  is  to-day,  wherever  they  are,  hostile  to 
this  Government  and  anxious  for  its  overthrow;  what  right 
has  she,  upon  any  recognized  principle  of  public  law  or  jus 
tice,  to  be  represented  in  Congress  ?  " 

The  treatment  accorded  Louisiana  would,  he  feared,  be  a 
precedent  for  the  ten  remaining  States.  There  would  be  the 
expense  of  holding  each  for  a  time  in  military  occupation  to 
bolster  up  their  State  governments.  He  preferred  for  Louisi 
ana  and  the  other  insurgent  States  a  provisional  establishment 
for  regulating  domestic  affairs,  but  without  representation  in 
Congress  until  the  mass  of  their  people  plainly  perceived  their 
error  in  attempting  to  overthrow  the  General  Government. 

Congress  should,  he  thought,  take  the  subject  of  readmis- 
sion  into  their  own  hands.  It  was  for  them  and  not  for  the 
President  to  execute  the  important  guaranty  to  each  State 
of  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  that  duty  became 
more  and  more  urgent  as  the  Federal  armies  swept  on  from 
victory  to  victory.  In  making  good  that  guaranty  the  great 
indispensable  necessity,  he  declared,  was  loyalty.1 

Mr.  Howard  was  followed  immediately  by  Reverdy  John 
son,  of  Maryland,  who  to  the  great  surprise  of  his  fellow- 
Democrats  argued  in  favor  of  the  resolution.  His  remarks 
were  introduced  by  a  concise  statement  of  the  chief  political 
events  occurring  in  Louisiana  between  the  capture  of  New 
1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1091-1095. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  371 

Orleans  and  the  ratification,  in  September,  1864,  of  the  new 
constitution.  Concluding  this  part  of  his  speech  he  said : 

"  These,  sir,  are  the  facts.  The  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
—  and  in  the  conclusion  to  which  they  came  I  concurred  — 
were  of  opinion  that  under  the  circumstances  in  which  the 
State  was  at  the  period  when  these  proceedings  were  had,  she 
could  not  be  recognized  as  a  State  of  the  United  States  under 
that  constitution  adopted  in  1864,  except  by  an  act  of  Con 
gress.  The  committee  were  of  opinion  that  it  was  not  in  the 
power  of  the  Executive  under  the  circumstances  to  bring  the 
State  back  under  that  constitution.  They  were  of  opinion, 
however,  that  it  was  competent  for  Congress  to  do  so,  and 
the  only  question  before  the  Committee  was,  whether,  under 
the  circumstances  under  which  the  State  was  at  the  time,  it 
was  not  the  duty  of  Congress  to  bring  the  State  back  so  as 
to  have  her  represented  in  the  Union." 

His  objection  to  the  conclusion  of  the  committee  was  that 
the  proceedings  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  constitution 
were  instituted  at  the  instance  and  under  the  power  of  the 
Federal  military  authorities.  The  precedent,  he  admitted, 
was  really  a  bad  one,  and  the  proposition  upon  which  the 
committee  were  called  to  decide  was  whether,  if  they  were 
satisfied  that  the  number  of  votes  said  to  have  been  cast  were 
in  fact  cast,  and  the  persons  voting  were  loyal  citizens,  they 
should  be  denied  the  privilege  of  being  represented  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation  and  subjected  to  a  continuance  of  mili 
tary  power.  Mr.  Johnson  added :  "  My  impression  is  that, 
no  matter  how  the  proceedings  were  instituted,  whether  it  was 
by  the  military  authority,  or  by  the  coming  together  of  the 
people  of  the  State,  if  in  point  of  fact  the  people  of  the  State 
did  act  voluntarily  and  were  competent  to  act  under  the  orig 
inal  constitution,  and  were  authorized  to  act  by  being  loyal  at 
the  time  they  did  act,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States  to  receive  them  back. 


372    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

"  Another  objection  was  that,  however  true  it  might  be  that 
it  would  be  in  the  power  of  all  the  voters  of  the  State  to  adopt 
a  constitution  for  themselves,  or  to  claim  the  right  of  coming 
back  to  the  Union  under  the  constitution  existing  at  the  time 
of  the  rebellion,  it  was  not  true  that  it  was  in  the  power  of 
fourteen  [eleven]  thousand,  four  hundred  and  fourteen 
voters,  when  the  entire  voting  population  of  the  State  was 
fifty-one  thousand,  to  take  that  course.  As  it  seemed  to  me 
then,  and  seems  now,  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  a 
single  citizen  of  Louisiana  was  excluded  from  the  right  of 
voting." 

It  was  not  so  certain,  he  argued  further,  that  the  eleven 
thousand  voters  who  participated  were  not  a  large  majority 
of  the  actual  electors  in  Louisiana,  for  the  war  engaged  the 
greater  part  of  the  voting  population,  and  nine  tenths  of  those 
who  entered  the  Confederate  service  had  forfeited  their  lives 
upon  the  battlefield;  of  those  above  or  below  the  military 
age  many  had  gone  elsewhere,  or  if  they  remained  in  the 
State  it  was  as  disloyal  citizens. 

It  was  not  pretended,  he  said,  in  discussing  the  relation  of 
the  loyal  minority  to  the  General  Government,  that  by  the  act 
of  secession  they  ceased  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
Their  fidelity  to  the  Union  entitled  them  to  Federal  protec 
tion.  If  loyal,  they  had  forfeited  no  rights  belonging  to  them 
before  the  commencement  of  the  rebellion.  No  Federal  law 
had  been  violated,  no  constitutional  obligation  evaded  by 
them.  They  could  not  ask  admission  into  the  Union,  be 
cause  to  speak  such  a  desire  was  to  subject  themselves  to 
punishment;  when  the  protection  of  the  United  States  was 
afforded  them  and  they  could  once  more  declare  their  senti 
ments  without  hazard  they  met  at  their  several  election  polls, 
organized  their  government  under  existing  law,  and  then, 
wishing  to  change  it,  met  in  convention  and  adopted  the 
constitution  which  had  been  submitted  to  the  Senate. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  373 

"  Why,"  inquired  Mr.  Johnson,  "  should  we  not  receive  it  ?  " 
The  right  of  eleven  thousand  citizens  to  change  their  con 
stitution  was  not  denied,  but  their  action  was  questioned  be 
cause  there  were  others,  then  in  arms  against  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  who  did  not  join  them  in  asserting  it. 
In  examining  the  question  who  were  to  exercise  the  authority 
of  the  State,  he  argued :  "  Now,  if  it  be  true  that  the  secession 
ordinance  had  no  operation  to  carry  the  State  out,  and  that  I 
understand  even  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Sum- 
ner]  admitted  last  night;  if  it  be  true  that  the  State  is  in  the 
Union  notwithstanding  the  ordinance,  then  the  only  question 
to  be  considered  is,  who  are  the  people  of  Louisiana  that  are 
to  exercise  the  sovereign  authority  belonging  to  the  State  of 
Louisiana?  Are  they  the  loyal  or  the  disloyal?  There  can 
be  but  one  answer  to  that  inquiry.  It  must  only  be  the  loyal." 

Senator  Howard  admitted,  continued  Mr.  Johnson,  that  it 
is  not  in  the  power  of  the  United  States  to  change  the  terri 
torial  limits  of  the  States  that  had  gone  out,  because  the 
Constitution  prohibits  it.  If  he  had  thought  for  a  moment  he 
would  have  seen  that  the  Constitution  equally  prohibits  any 
interference  on  the  part  of  the  General  Government  with  the 
exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage  in  a  State.  He  then  combated 
at  some  length  the  intimation  of  Senators  Howard  and  Sum- 
ner  that  any  power  without  a  State  had  a  right  to  prescribe 
qualifications  for  the  exercise  of  the  suffrage.  - 

Mr.  Powell,  too,  concurred  in  this  view  and  asked  by  what 
authority  General  Banks  and  the  President  undertook  to  pre 
scribe  the  qualifications  of  voters  in  Louisiana.  The  Mary 
land  Senator  replied  that  this  question  had  been  antici 
pated.  The  eleven  thousand  four  hundred  and  fourteen 
voters,  according  to  the  proof  before  the  Senate,  were  all  loyal 
men  and  entitled  to  vote  by  the  original  constitution  of 
Louisiana,  no  matter  how  they  were  brought  together.  If, 
coming  together,  they  did  an  act  which  they  would  have  been 


374    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

authorized  to  do  if  they  had  come  together  voluntarily  they 
ought  to  be  received. 

Powell  then  inquired,  what  right  had  the  Senate  to  presume 
that  there  may  not  have  been  twelve  thousand  loyal  voters 
in  Louisiana  who  were  deprived  of  the  right  of  suffrage  be 
cause  of  this  order  of  General  Banks  ?  As  the  Kentucky  Sena 
tor  understood  it,  no  man  could  vote  "  unless  he  would  go 
forward  and  take  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  President  and 
swear  to  support  and  sustain  all  proclamations  in  regard  to 
African  slavery  already  issued  and  all  that  might  afterward 
be  issued/'  Mr.  Johnson  acknowledged  this  difficulty  and 
admitted  that  he  had  always  felt  it;  but  they  had  the  same 
difficulty,  he  asserted,  in  his  own  State,  and  a  much  greater 
one;  he  would  be  sorry  to  think  Maryland  was  not  in  the 
Union.  "  Maryland  is  in  the  Union,"  said  Senator  Powell. 
"  The  constitution,"  observed  Johnson  in  reply,  "  which  now 
makes  her  a  State  in  the  Union  was  adopted  the  other  day. 
I  mean  the  one  which  governs  her.  She  has  manumitted  her 
slaves  by  force  of  that  constitution.  No  man  in  Maryland 
seriously  contests  the  obligation  of  that  constitution  in  that 
particular  or  in  any  other.  But  it  was  adopted,  in  fact,  by 
the  exclusion  of  a  good  many  men  who  were  entitled  to 
vote." 

Mr.  Johnson  at  this  point  became  engaged  in  an  argument, 
not  wholly  relevant,  with  Sumner  in  which  he  gained  some 
advantage  over  the  Massachusetts  Senator.  As  a  specimen  of 
the  latter's  parliamentary  tactics  at  this  time  it  may  not  be 
irrelevant  to  reproduce  a  passage  from  the  Congressional 
Globe. 

MR.  SUMNER.  Allow  me  to  ask  the  Senator  [Johnson]  whether,  in  his 
opinion,  the  Ordinance  governing  the  Northwest  Territory,  prohibiting 
slavery  everywhere  throughout  that  Territory,  and  which  was  declared 
to  be  a  perpetual  compact,  could  be  set  aside  by  any  one  of  the  States  in 
the  Territory  now. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  375 

MR.  JOHNSON.  I  certainly  think  they  can,  except  so  far  as  rights  are 
vested. 

MR.  SUMNER.  The  Senator,  then,  thinks  Ohio  can  enslave  a  fellow- 
man? 

MR.  JOHNSON.  Just  as  much  as  Massachusetts  can. 

MR.  SUMNER.  Massachusetts  cannot. 

MR.  JOHNSON.  Why  not? 

MR.  SUMNER.  Massachusetts  cannot  do  an  act  of  injustice. 

MR.  JOHNSON.  Oh,  indeed!    I  did  not  know  that.    [Laughter.]1 

Notwithstanding  this  claim  for  his  native  State  Sumner 
admitted  a  moment  later  that  Massachusetts  had  united  in  the 
Convention  of  1787  with  South  Carolina  to  deny  to  Congress 
authority  to  prohibit  the  slave  trade  for  twenty  years,  and 
he  confessed  that  such  action  was  unjust.  His  inconsistency 
was  still  further  exposed  by  Senator  Henderson,  who  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  educational  qualification  imposed 
by  the  Massachusetts  constitution  would  exclude  from  the 
franchise  almost  every  negro  in  Louisiana  if  the  provisions 
were  applicable  in  the  latter  State.2 

After  this  colloquy,  not  uninteresting  to  the  student  of 
constitutional  history,  the  Maryland  Senator  resumed  his 
remarks: 

"  One  word  more,  sir,  and  I  have  done.  If  Congress  passes 
this  resolution,  and  the  State  is  admitted,  no  court  will  here 
after  be  able  to  decide  that  she  is  not  a  State  in  the  Union, 
and  no  court  therefore  can  call  in  question  the  validity  or 
effect  of  any  provision  to  be  found  in  her  constitution.  One 
of  the  provisions  of  this  constitution  is  that  all  the  slaves  of 
Louisiana  are  emancipated.  Pass  this  resolution,  admit  the 
State,  and  that  provision  is  effectual  at  once."  3 

Mr.  Sumner,  having  in  mind  the  fundamental  condition 
imposed  by  Congress  upon  the  admission  of  Missouri,  offered 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1097. 

1  Ibid. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  1095-1098. 


376    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  following  amendment  of  the  resolution  from  the  Com 
mittee  on  the  Judiciary : 

Provided,  That  this  shall  not  take  effect  except  upon  the  fundamental 
condition  that  within  the  State  there  shall  be  no  denial  of  the  electoral 
franchise,  or  of  any  other  rights  on  account  of  color  or  race,  but  all  per 
sons  shall  be  equal  before  the  law.  And  the  Legislature  of  the  State, 
by  a  solemn  public  act,  shall  declare  the  assent  of  the  State  to  this 
fundamental  condition,  and  shall  transmit  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  an  authentic  copy  of  such  assent  whenever  the  same  shall  be 
adopted,  upon  the  receipt  whereof  he  shall,  by  proclamation,  announce  the 
fact;  whereupon,  without  any  further  proceedings  on  the  part  of  Con 
gress,  this  joint  resolution  shall  take  effect.1 

Though  Senator  Clark  favored  the  principle  of  Sumner's 
amendment,  he  opposed  it,  as  it  stood,  because  it  affected  a 
resolution  which  proposed  "  to  recognize  the  government  in 
the  State  of  Louisiana,"  which  in  his  judgment  was  still  a 
State  in  the  Union,  "  having  its  constitution  overthrown,  but 
desiring  and  attempting  to  establish  a  new"  one;  and  he 
added,  "  I  hold  that  we  have  no  power  to  amend  that  con 
stitution;  and  that  is  the  reason  why  I  shall  be  obliged  to 
vote  against  it  here." 

He  spoke  for  the  adoption  of  Trumbull's  resolution  and, 
in  doing  so,  traveled  some  of  the  ground  gone  over  by  Hen 
derson.  The  government  of  Louisiana,  Mr.  Clark  believed, 
belonged  to  the  Union  people.  He  was  not  aware  that  any 
definite  number  of  persons  was  required  to  constitute  a  State, 
nor  did  he  understand  how  the  majority  by  going  into  re 
bellion  could  take  away  the  rights  of  the  loyal  minority. 

The  guaranty  of  a  republican  form  of  government  was 
made,  he  asserted,  to  meet  precisely  such  a  case  as  had  arisen 
in  Louisiana.  In  this  view  it  became  the  duty  of  Congress  to 
protect  the  government  established  by  the  minority.2 

Mr.  Pomeroy,  speaking  to  the  principle  of  Sumner's  amend- 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1099. 
'Ibid.,  pp.  1101-1102. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  377 

ment,  declared  that  he  would  vote  against  all  measures  that 
looked  like  Congressional  interference  with  the  right  to  vote 
in  the  States.  Saulsbury  interrupted  him  to  inquire  what  he 
would  have  done  had  the  President,  or  his  Secretary  of  War, 
sent  armed  soldiers  to  the  polls  and  imposed  a  test  upon 
voters  as  was  done  in  Delaware,  where  Democrats  were  chased 
into  swamps  and  compelled  in  the  night  time  to  lie  out  in 
the  snow.  Pomeroy's  only  reply  to  this  was  to  relate  his 
own  experience  under  Democratic  supremacy  in  the  early  days 
of  Kansas.  He  resumed  his  remarks  on  Louisiana,  but  these 
had  been  anticipated  by  the  speakers  who  preceded  him. 
In  conclusion  he  asserted  that  there  were  two  reasons  for 
recognizing  Arkansas  where  there  was  but  one  in  favor  of 
Louisiana.1 

The  Delaware  Senator  did  not  fail  to  call  attention  to  Pom 
eroy's  evasion,  and  said  he  was  glad  to  observe  a  change  in  the 
spirit  of  some  of  his  Republican  friends.  "  I  think/'  he  said, 
"they  begin  to  scent  the  danger  in  the  distance;  that  they 
begin  to  see  that  if  a  Government  of  law  is  to  be  destroyed, 
and  power  is  to  be  concentrated  in  Executive  hands,  or  in  the 
hands  of  Executive  agents,  there  is  an  end  of  liberty  in  this 
country.  I  hail  the  dawn,  therefore,  of  a  better  day."  2 

Mr.  Henderson  again  entered  into  the  discussion,  and  in  the 
course  of  his  remarks  drew  from  Senator  Sumner  this  remark 
able  statement  concerning  Louisiana :  "  It  is  in  and  it  is  not. 
[Laughter.]  The  territory  is  in;  but  as  yet  there  is  no  State 
government  that  is  in."  In  this  discussion  Sumner  asserted 
also  that  when  the  bill  of  his  friend  Senator  Wade  was  be 
fore  Congress  no  one  questioned  its  constitutionality  though 
it  proposed  to  interfere  in  the  suffrage  and  to  impose  a  condi 
tion  upon  States  at  the  time  of  their  reconstruction.  Pomeroy 
dissented  from  the  doctrine  that  Congress  could  reconstruct 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1101-1102. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  1 102. 


378    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  insurgent  States,  and  maintained  that  the  only  question 
then  was  whether  they  would  recognize  what  the  people  of 
Louisiana  had  done. 

Reverdy  Johnson  pointed  out  to  Sumner  the  great  increase 
of  representation  in  Congress  which  the  South  would  acquire 
by  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  to  negroes.  The  three  fifths 
provision,  he  said,  would  be  done  away  with,  and  he  made 
the  further  observation  that  for  years  to  come  the  entire  col 
ored  vote  of  that  section  would  be  in  the  hands  of  a  few 
white  men.  He  urged  recognition  of  both  Louisiana  and 
Arkansas,  so  that  the  constitutional  amendment  would  be 
come  binding,  for  unless  ratified  by  three  fourths  of  all  the 
States  it  would  be  open  to  doubt. 

The  session  was  drawing  rapidly  toward  its  close;  it  was 
late  in  the  evening  of  February  25,  and  the  resolution  under 
discussion  was  too  important  to  be  passed  without  due  con 
sideration.  These  circumstances  offered  Mr.  Wade,  who 
vehemently  opposed  the  measure,  a  decent  pretext  for  de 
manding  the  "  yeas  "  and  "  nays  "  on  his  motion  to  postpone 
the  subject  till  the  first  Monday  of  December  following,  1865. 

Before  a  vote  was  reached  on  this  motion,  however,  Powell 
spoke  again  at  considerable  length.  In  addition  to  his  former 
arguments,  many  of  which  were  repeated,  he  said  that  "  all 
the  loyal  Union  men  in  the  State  of  Louisiana  who  refused, 
like  supple  menials  and  slaves,  to  crouch  beneath  the  iron 
military  power  of  General  Banks,  and  take  that  oath  were 
excluded  from  voting,"  and  he  added,  "  I  believe  to-day  there 
are  more  men  of  that  description  in  Louisiana  than  voted  to 
ratify  this  constitution." 

When  asked  by  Mr.  Henderson  whether  he  had  heard  of 
any  objection  to  it  on  the  part  of  the  loyal  men  of  Louisiana, 
Powell  answered  that  Thomas  J.  Durant  and  thirty-one  others, 
distinguished,  leading,  loyal  men  of  that  State,  had  made 
earnest  and  powerful  protest  against  it,  and  remonstrated 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  379 

against  the  admission  to  Congress  of  Senators  and  Repre 
sentatives  from  Louisiana.  They  were  also  opposed  to  count 
ing  her  electoral  vote.  Mr.  Durant,  he  believed,  was  the  first 
district-attorney  appointed  in  Louisiana  by  the  present  Ex 
ecutive.  Henderson  insinuated  by  an  inquiry  that  Durant 
was  himself  a  candidate  for  office  at  that  election  and  took  the 
oath  prescribed.  Powell  not  being  informed  on  these  points, 
the  matter  was  left  in  doubt. 

The  Kentucky  Senator  took  this  opportunity  to  characterize 
the  manner  of  General  Banks  in  his  statement  before  the 
Judiciary  Committee  as  that  of  a  "  swift  witness,  to  make  a 
case  that  he  thought  would  cause  Louisiana  to  be  admitted." 
He  also  called  upon  some  advocate  of  the  resolution  to  ex 
plain  a  support  of  the  present  measure  after  voting  a  few  days 
before  for  the  resolution  declaring  that  the  electoral  vote  of 
Louisiana  should  not  be  counted.  If  Louisiana  was  then  a 
legitimate  government,  why,  he  asked,  was  she  not  entitled 
to  cast  her  electoral  vote?  He  did  not  then  believe  it  a 
legitimate  government  and  so  opposed  the  counting  of  her 
electoral  vote;  but  the  Senator  from  Maryland  [Mr.  Johnson] 
and  the  Senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Henderson],  who  then 
voted  with  him,  now  supported  the  resolution.1 

Wade's  motion  to  postpone  further  consideration  of  the 
joint  resolution  till  the  first  Monday  of  December  was  de 
feated  by  a  vote  of  17  to  I2.2 

In  the  course  of  the  discussions  to  postpone  Sumner  said 
that  he  would  regard  its  passage  as  a  national  calamity.  It 
would  be  the  political  Bull  Run  of  that  Administration,  sacri 
ficing,  as  it  would,  a  great  cause  and  the  great  destinies  of 
this  Republic.  When  Trumbull  taxed  him  with  intent  to 
postpone  discussion  by  dilatory  motions  the  Massachusetts 
Senator  admitted  his  opposition  and  declared  that  to  defeat 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  pp.  1106-1107. 
"Ibid.,  p.  1107. 


380    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  measure  he  would  employ  any  weapon  in  the  arsenal  of 
parliamentary  warfare. 

The  friends  of  the  Administration  endeavored  to  press  their 
adversaries  to  take  final  action  on  the  resolution.  The  ear 
nestness  of  the  two  factions  provoked  rather  sharp  censure  of 
Sumner  and  the  few  Republicans  who  acted  with  him 
and  were  attempting  by  dilatory  motions  to  fatigue  the  Senate 
into  a  postponement.  Doolittle  was  especially  severe  on  them, 
and  particularly  on  Sumner,  who  replied  with  much  asperity. 
He  was  supported  by  Howard  and  Chandler,  while  Trumbull, 
Foster  and  Doolittle  undertook  a  defence  of  the  resolution 
and  its  advocates.  This  wrangling  appears  to  have  delighted 
the  Democratic  members.  Mr.  Hendricks,  indeed,  made  no 
attempt  to  conceal  his  satisfaction. 

"  The  discordant  elements  of  the  Republican  party  are 
exhibiting  themselves  here,"  said  the  Indiana  Senator,  "  and 
I  venture  the  prophecy  that  a  like  exhibition  will  be  witnessed 
over  the  country  within  a  very  few  years.  But  four  years 
ago,  at  the  Chicago  Convention,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  a  solemn  pledge  was  made  to 
the  people  of  this  country  that  that  party,  when  it  came  into 
power,  would  not  undertake  to  interfere  with  the  institutions 
of  the  States.  As  soon  as  the  disturbed  condition  of  the 
country  gave  the  pretext  for  it,  the  undertaking  was  com 
menced;  and  now,  when,  in  the  judgment  of  some,  it  has  been 
accomplished,  there  comes  up  the  grave  question,  what  is  to 
be  done,  and  what  is  to  be  the  political  condition  of  the  four 
million  negroes  when  they  are  set  free  ?  And  upon  that  ques 
tion  the  real  strife  of  to-night  has  been  witnessed.  That  is 
the  subject  and  it  need  not  be  disguised.  It  is  growing  out 
of  the  discordant  elements  of  the  party  that  now  governs  the 
country."  * 

Trumbull,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  of  Senator  Wade,  said  that 
1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  mi. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  381 

he  had  voted  against  receiving  the  electoral  vote"of  Louisiana 
because  it  had  not  been  recognized.  Now  he  proposed  to  put 
it  in  a  condition  where  it  could  cast  electoral  votes,  and  do  all 
other  acts  belonging  to  a  State. 

To  this  Wade  replied  that  "  If  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  operating  through  his  major-generals,  can  initiate  a 
State  government,  and  can  bring  it  here  and  force  us,  compel 
us,  to  receive  as  associates  on  this  floor  these  mere  mockeries, 
these  men  of  straw  who  represent  nobody,  your  Republic  is 
at  an  end. 

"  Sir,  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  this  pretended  elec 
tion  in  Louisiana  that  did  not  come  from  Major-General 
Banks,  and  I  pronounce  the  proceeding  a  mockery.  It  is  not 
pretended  that  there  could  be  drummed  up  from  the  riffraff 
of  New  Orleans  and  sent  into  the  vicinity  under  the  mandate 
of  a  Major-General  more  than  about  six  thousand  votes,  where 
over  fifty  thousand  were  formerly  polled. 

"  Talk  not  to  me  of  your  ten  per  cent,  principle.  A  more 
absurd,  monarchical,  and  anti-American  principle  was  never 
announced  on  God's  earth "  l 

At  this  point  Senator  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  interposed  to 
obtain  consideration  for  a  revenue  measure  which  he  had  in 
charge,  whereupon  his  colleague  changed  somewhat  the  decla 
mation  against  the  resolution  to  a  denunciation  of  its  advo 
cates,  especially  Trumbull,  upon  whom  he  retorted  the  charge 
of  retarding  legitimate  business.  Howard  resented  the  charge 
of  radical  factiousness  and  denounced  Trumbull  with  con 
siderable  warmth.  Sherman  suggested  that  enough  had  been 
said  on  both  sides,  and  in  the  lighter  skirmishing  of  the 
breathing-spell  which  followed,  Mr.  Sprague,  of  Rhode  Is 
land,  hitherto  a  silent  spectator  of  these  exciting  scenes,  de 
clared  that  he  held  in  his  possession  a  paper  indicating  the 
1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1128. 


382    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

names  of  the  members  of  the  Louisiana  Legislature,  and  it 
showed  that  twenty-five,  or  twenty-seven  or  thirty  of  those 
gentlemen  who  constituted  that  assembly  were  officeholders 
of  the  Federal  Government,  or  the  government  of  the  State, 
which,  he  said,  was  the  same  thing.1 

While  Sherman's  measure  and  Trumbull's  resolution  were 
competing  for  priority  of  consideration  Sumner  remarked 
that  during  the  preceding  summer,  1864,  he  had  met  a  dis 
tinguished  gentleman  just  returned  from  Louisiana;  he  had 
been  present  at  some  of  the  sittings  of  the  convention,  having 
been  in  New  Orleans  in  discharge  of  important  public  duties. 
This  gentleman,  added  Sumner,  said  compendiously  that  the 
convention  was  "  nothing  but  a  stupendous  hoax." 

When  Reverdy  Johnson  inquired  the  name  of  Sumner's 
informant,  Senator  Grimes  replied  that  he  could  furnish  a 
large  number  of  names  of  persons  present  in  New  Orleans 
when  the  convention  was  held,  and  added :  "  If  the  Senate  will 
give  a  committee  I  will  undertake  to  prove  and  I  will  prove 
that  the  voters  whose  votes  were  polled  in  the  outlying  parishes 
at  Thibodeaux  and  Placquemines,  and  other  places,  were  car 
ried  in  army  transports  to  those  places  where  they  polled  the 
votes,  being  discharged  soldiers  and  persons  belonging  in 
New  Orleans,  and  were  brought  back  to  New  Orleans,  and 
were  not  residents  of  the  places  where  they  purported  to 
vote."  2 

Sumner,  immediately  after  the  uncontroverted  statement 
of  Mr.  Grimes,  added,  with  more  energy  than  elegance: 
"  The  pretended  State  government  in  Louisiana  is  utterly  in 
defensible  whether  you  look  at  its  origin  or  its  character.  To 
describe  it,  I  must  use  plain  language.  It  is  a  mere  seven- 
months'  abortion,  begotten  by  the  bayonet  in  criminal  con 
junction  with  the  spirit  of  caste,  and  born  before  its  time, 

1  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1129. 
•Ibid. 


SENATE  DEBATE  ON  LOUISIANA  383 

rickety,  unformed,  unfinished  —  whose  continued  existence 
will  be  a  burden,  a  reproach,  and  a  wrong.  That  is  the  whole 
case;  and  yet  the  Senator  from  Illinois  now  presses  it  upon 
the  Senate  at  this  moment  to  the  exclusion  of  the  important 
public  business  of  the  country."  1 

The  urgency  of  the  army  and  navy  appropriation  bills  pre 
vented  for  the  time  further  consideration  of  the  Louisiana 
question.  The  subject,  however,  was  again  brought  before 
the  Senate  on  March  2,  1865,  by  Mr.  Doolittle,  who  had  re 
ceived  and  had  been  requested  to  file  with  the  secretary  of  the 
Senate  a  certificate,  under  seal  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  of  the 
election  of  Michael  Hahn  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States 
from  the  State  of  Louisiana  for  six  years  from  March  4,  1865. 
Mr.  Davis,  of  Kentucky,  opposed  its  reception.  Doolittle's 
motion  to  have  it  laid  on  the  table  and  filed  was,  however, 
agreed  to. 

Only  two  days  of  the  session  remained;  in  the  temper  of 
the  Senate  it  was  impossible  that  the  resolution  could  pass  at 
that  time,  and  the  House  had  not  yet  taken  it  up  for  discus 
sion.  In  these  circumstances  the  measure  was  abandoned, 
though  very  reluctantly,  by  its  champions. 
*  Globe,  Part  II.,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  1129. 


XI 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

THE  Emancipation  Proclamation  did  not  affect,  as  is 
well  known,  the  status  of  slaves  in  the  loyal  border 
States  or  in  the  excepted  parts  of  Virginia  and  Lou 
isiana.  The  State  of  Tennessee,  too,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not 
named  in  the  edict  of  freedom ;  that  was  published  by  the  Pres 
ident  simply  as  a  measure  of  military  necessity,  and  was  not 
regarded  by  him  or  by  others  as  operative  to  prevent,  when 
war  had  ceased,  a  revival  of  servitude  in  the  insurgent  States, 
for  negroes  could  easily  be  imported  from  those  loyal  com 
monwealths  still  tolerating  that  institution.  It  was  uncertain, 
too,  how  the  proclamation  would  affect  the  status  of  slaves  in 
those  districts  not  yet  overrun  by  the  Union  armies.  In  the 
border  States,  in  Tennessee  and  in  the  excepted  parts  of 
Louisiana  and  Virginia  there  were  probably  2,000,000  men  in 
bondage.  In  order,  then,  to  abolish  universally  as  well  as 
permanently  to  prohibit  involuntary  servitude  an  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  was  proposed  in  the  familiar  language  of 
the  sixth  section  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  Though  it  passed 
the  Senate,  April  8,  1864,  it  failed  at  that  time  to  receive  in 
the  House  the  requisite  two  thirds  vote.  It  has  been  seen 
how  upon  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Lincoln  it  was  recon 
sidered  and  passed  by  the  Representatives  at  a  succeeding  ses 
sion,  January  31,  1865,  and  submitted  to  the  States  for  their 
action.  It  was  adopted  by  his  own  State,  Illinois,  on  the  fol 
lowing  day.  By  the  close  of  February  sixteen  others  had  fol 
lowed  its  example,  and  before  the  President's  death  twenty  in 
all  had  ratified  the  Amendment.  To  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  had 

384 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION          385 

long  held  anti-slavery  opinions,  this  expression  of  public  sen 
timent  was  extremely  grateful ;  indeed,  less  than  two  months 
before  his  assassination  he  declared  his  satisfaction  at  the 
popular  verdict,  and  his  confidence  that  the  States  would 
consummate  what  Congress  had  so  nobly  begun.  The  Thir 
teenth  Amendment,  however,  was  not  announced  as  part  of 
the  organic  law  until  after  the  Presidential  plan  of  reconstruc 
tion  had  been  ignored  by  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress.  This 
subject,  therefore,  need  not  be  further  discussed  in  these 
pages. 

The  extraordinary  amount  of  work  actually  completed  by 
the  national  Legislature  can  be  comprehended  only  by  con 
sidering  the  degree  of  perfection  to  which  the  committee  sys 
tem  has  been  carried  under  congressional  government.  Meas 
ures  that  conduct  the  reader  over  vast  stretches  of  the  records 
of  Congress  occupy  but  a  day  or  two  in  the  calendar. 
The  discussions  described  in  the  two  preceding  chapters  did 
not,  as  might  be  supposed,  engage  the  entire  attention  of  Fed 
eral  legislators.  It  was  desirable,  if,  indeed,  it  was  not  essen 
tial,  that  the  sentiments  of  the  lawmaking  body  of  the  nation 
be  authoritatively  declared  on  the  question  of  admitting  mem 
bers  to  Congress  from  those  Stales  reconstituted  under  the 
Executive  plan ;  definitive  action  in  the  matter  of  the  electoral 
votes  which  they  presented  was  also  awaited  with  not  a  little 
interest.  Scarcely  inferior  in  importance  and  more  instruct 
ive  than  these  measures  was  the  passage  of  an  act,  approved 
March  3,  1865,  which  created  in  the  War  Department  a  "  Bu 
reau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen  and  Abandoned  Lands."  As 
the  system  of  relief  then  inaugurated  was  destined  to  become 
an  important  agency  in  the  work  of  reconstruction  a  brief 
account  of  its  origin  and  institution  may  not  be  deemed  super 
fluous. 

A  former  chapter  has  related  how  great  numbers  of  "  con 
trabands,"  by  assembling  early  in  the  war  at  Fortress  Monroe 


386    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  Newport  News,  taxed  the  ingenuity  of  even  General  But 
ler  to  provide  for  their  maintenance;  it  also  noticed  an  attempt 
under  Mr.  E.  L.  Pierce  to  improve  the  condition  of  aban 
doned  slaves  in  South  Carolina,  and  the  friendly  interest  of 
Secretary  Chase  in  that  experiment.  But  the  hundreds  of 
fugitives  within  Federal  lines  in  May,  1861,  had  grown  to 
be  millions  by  the  beginning  of  1865.  Of  this  army  of  home 
less  freedmen  the  policy  of  enlisting  colored  troops  pro 
vided  directly  for  nearly  200,000  able-bodied  males.  The 
women,  the  children  and  the  large  class  unsuitable  for  mili 
tary  service  left  a  multitude  still  unprovided  for.  Some 
relief,  it  is  true,  was  afforded  by  the  Treasury  Department, 
which  undertook  to  establish  on  abandoned  and  confiscated 
lands  colonies  of  self-supporting  negroes,  but  the  ignorance 
and  rapacity  of  many  persons  entrusted  with  the  supervision 
of  this  work  led  to  its  general  failure.  Here  and  there,  in 
deed,  more  satisfactory  results  were  obtained,  though  these 
isolated  successes  seldom  reached  the  point  of  actual  en 
couragement.  The  South  Carolina  experiment  may,  therefore, 
be  properly  regarded  as  the  germ  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau. 
The  progress  of  these  communities  had  been  watched  anx 
iously  by  the  abolition  and  the  kindred  associations  which 
sprang  up  to  continue  the  work  that  anti-slavery  men  had 
begun.  On  this  subject  a  committee  representing  the  Freed 
men's  Aid  Societies  of  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and 
Cincinnati  addressed,  December  i,  1863,  an  able  memorial  to 
the  President.  Without  expressing  a  favorable  opinion  of 
the  plan  suggested  by  the  petitioners,  Mr.  Lincoln  referred 
the  question,  as  one  of  great  magnitude  and  importance,  to 
the  consideration  of  Congress.  The  Freedmen's  Aid  Socie 
ties,  however,  had  been  anticipated  by  Representative  Eliot, 
of  Massachusetts,  who  had  offered,  January  12,  1863,  a  b^ 
to  establish  a  Bureau  of  Emancipation,  which  was  referred  to 
a  select  committee;  but  other  business,  regarded  as  more 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION          387 

urgent,  prevented  them  from  reporting  at  that  time  a  measure 
which  had  been  prepared.  At  the  succeeding  session  the 
proposition  was  offered  again.  After  numerous  efforts  to 
secure  favorable  action,  efforts  extending  over  a  period  of 
two  years,  Congress  took  the  subject  into  consideration. 
The  House  proposed  one,  the  Senate  a  different  measure;  a 
committee  of  conference  suggested  something  unlike  either, 
though  embodying  important  features  of  'both.  This,  like 
every  proposition  affecting  the  negro,  encountered  consider 
able  opposition.  The  creation  of  such  a  bureau,  said  its  ad 
versaries,  conceded  the  very  point  that  pro-slavery  men  had 
always  maintained;  namely,  that  the  negro  was  incapable  of 
taking  care  of  himself.  The  extent  of  its  powers,  its  dura 
tion  and  the  cost  of  its  maintenance  were  successively  made 
grounds  of  opposition  by  those  hostile  to  its  establishment. 
Nor  did  its  enemies  fail  to  point  out  the  great  temptation  to 
abuse  which  was  offered  by  the  system. 

The  act  established  in  the  War  Department,  to  continue 
during  the  rebellion  and  for  one  year  thereafter,  a  bureau 
to  which  should  be  committed  the  management  of  all  con 
fiscated  or  abandoned  lands,  and  the  control  of  all  subjects 
relating  to  refugees  and  freedmen  from  any  district  within 
the  territory  embraced  in  the  operations  of  the  army,  under 
such  regulations  as  might  be  adopted  by  the  head  of  the 
bureau  and  approved  by  the  President. 

The  conduct  of  the  bureau  was  entrusted  to  a  commissioner 
appointed  by  the  President  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
Senate.  In  the  exercise  of  his  functions  he  was  to  be  assisted 
by  such  clerks  as  the  Secretary  of  War  might  assign  him; 
their  number,  of  course,  was  limited  by  law.  For  his  com 
pensation  the  head  of  the  new  bureau  was  to  receive  a  sum 
fixed  at  $3,000  per  annum.  To  aid  in  executing  the  provisions 
of  the  act  the  President  was  authorized  to  select,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  one  assistant  commis- 


388    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

sioner  for  each  of  the  States  declared  to  be  in  insurrection,  not, 
however,  to  exceed  ten  in  number,  each  to  receive  an  annual 
salary  of  $2,500. 

The  Secretary  of  War,  besides  assigning  clerks  of  the  sev 
eral  grades  mentioned  in  the  law,  was  authorized  to  issue, 
under  regulations  which  he  might  himself  prescribe,  such  pro 
visions,  clothing  and  fuel  as  might  be  deemed  needful  for  the 
immediate  and  temporary  shelter  and  supply  of  destitute  and 
suffering  refugees  and  freedmen  as  well  as  their  wives  and 
children.  Any  military  officer  could  be  detailed  to  duty  under 
the  act,  but  without  increase  of  pay  or  allowances. 

It  was  further  provided  that  the  commissioner,  "  under  the 
direction  of  the  President,  shall  have  authority  to  set  apart, 
for  the  use  of  loyal  refugees  and  freedmen,  such  tracts  of 
land  within  the  insurrectionary  States  as  shall  have  been 
abandoned,  or  to  which  the  United  States  shall  have  ac 
quired  title  by  confiscation  or  sale,  or  otherwise,  and  to  every 
male  citizen,  whether  refugee  or  freedman,  as  aforesaid,  there 
shall  be  assigned  not  more  than  forty  acres  of  such  land, 
and  the  person  to  whom  it  was  so  assigned  shall  be  protected 
in  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  land  for  the  term  of.  three 
years  at  an  annual  rent  not  exceeding  six  per  centum  upon 
the  value  of  said  land,  as  it  was  appraised  by  the  State  au 
thorities  in  the  year  1860,  for  the  purpose  of  taxation,  and 
in  case  no  such  appraisal  can  be  found,  then  the  rental  shall 
be  based  upon  the  estimated  value  of  the  land  in  said  year, 
to  be  ascertained  in  such  manner  as  the  commissioner  may 
by  regulation  prescribe.  At  the  end  of  said  term,  or  at  any 
time  during  said  term,  the  occupants  of  any  parcels  so  as 
signed  may  purchase  the  land,  and  receive  such  title  thereto 
as  the  United  States  can  convey,  upon  paying  therefor  the 
value  of  the  land,  as  ascertained  and  fixed  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  the  annual  rent  aforesaid."  * 
1  Globe,  2  Sess.  38th  Cong.,  p.  141  (appendix). 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION          389 

It  was  made  the  duty  of  the  assistant  commissioners  to 
submit  a  quarterly  report  of  their  proceedings  to  the  commis 
sioner,  who  in  turn  was  required  to  report  annually  to  the 
President  before  the  commencement  of  each  regular  session 
of  Congress.  Special  reports  might  from  time  to  time  be 
requested  of  either  the  head  of  the  bureau  or  his  subordinates. 

The  bureau  thus  established  was  organized  principally  by 
officers  of  the  regular  army  under  direction  of  General 
Oliver  O.  Howard,  who  had  been  selected  by  President  John 
son  as  commissioner.  It  soon  grew  to  vast  proportions. 
At  first  it  was  economically  managed  and  beneficent  in  its 
influence;  subsequently,  however,  it  degenerated  into  an 
abuse.  Interesting  and  instructive  as  would  be  an  inquiry 
into  its  operations,  the  history  of  this  politico-philanthropic 
experiment  does  not  fall  within  the  limits  of  this  work. 

Since  the  adjournment,  February  27,  1861,  of  the  Peace 
Convention,  which  had  been  in  session  at  Washington  en 
deavoring  to  discover,  if  possible,  a  means  of  avoiding  the 
irrepressible  conflict,  there  was  a  large  class  who  believed  that 
if  only  they  had  been  directing  the  policy  of  Government  the 
outbreak  could  have  been  averted ;  even  when  war  was  flagrant 
and  passions  were  highest  this  class,  though  diminished  greatly 
in  numbers,  did  not  altogether  despair  of  effecting  a  settle 
ment  between  the  sections.  Besides  these  well-meaning 
patriots  there  were  not  a  few  who  were  ambitious  of  notoriety 
or  possessed  of  an  undue  opinion  of  their  own  importance. 
Persons  of  both  classes  attempted  from  time  to  time  to  bring 
about  an  armistice  which  would  facilitate  negotiations  between 
the  two  governments.  The  efforts  of  these  men  have  no  fur 
ther  bearing  on  the  subject  of  reconstruction  than  as  they 
serve  to  show  Mr.  Lincoln's  views  in  successive  stages  of  the 
conflict. 

Prominent  among  these  attempts  was  the  Jacquess-Gil- 
more  mission,  which  has  been  described  in  an  interesting  vol- 


390    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

time  of  Rebellion  reminiscences  by  one  of  the  participants.1 
Horace  Greeley's  career  as  a  diplomat  is  also  a  familiar  story, 
which  at  once  illustrates  the  guilelessness  of  the  editor  and 
the  sagacity  of  the  President.  Mr.  Greeley's  failure  at  Niag 
ara  Falls,  however,  did  not  discourage  a  similar  undertak 
ing  by  Hon.  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  who,  with  no  greater  success, 
had  an  interview  in  Canada  with  his  former  friend  Jacob 
Thompson.2 

More  important,  because  of  its  consequences,  than  the 
work  of  any  of  these  volunteer  commissioners  was  the  visit 
of  Francis  P.  Blair,  Sr.,  to  Richmond.  This  distinguished 
politician  and  editor  had  in  the  days  of  Nullification  assisted 
in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  Government.  The  bosom  friend 
and  confidential  adviser  of  Andrew  Jackson,  Mr.  Blair 
thoroughly  understood  Southern  feeling,  and  from  long 
residence  in  Washington  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
Southern  leaders.  His  political  victories  in  the  past  en 
couraged,  no  doubt,  the  hope  of  some  notable  achievement 
to  crown  his  maturer  years.  For  some  time  he  had  been 
meditating  a  plan  of  reunion  which  would  not  only  end  the 
strife  but  contribute  to  heal  the  wounds  of  war.  Though 
anxious  to  communicate  his  project  to  the  President,  he  re 
ceived  no  encouragement  to  do  so.  By  requesting  Blair  to 
call  upon  him  after  the  fall  of  Savannah  Mr.  Lincoln  evaded 
a  discussion  of  the  subject.  That  contingency,  however,  was 
not  remote,  and  late  in  December  the  veteran  political  leader 
received  from  the  President  a  card  bearing  these  words : 

Allow  the  bearer,  F.  P.  Blair,  Sr.,  to  pass  our  lines,  go  South,  and 
return. 

A.  LINCOLN. 
December  28,  1864. 

1  Personal  Recollections  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  James  R.  Gilmore. 
*  Gorham's  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Vol.  II.  pp. 
148-153. 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION          391 

With  this  credential  Mr.  Blair  went  at  once  to  the  camp 
of  General  Grant,  whence  under  flags  of  truce  he  sent  two 
communications  to  Jefferson  Davis  requesting,  among  other 
things,  permission  for  an  interview.  This,  after  some  delay, 
was  granted,  and  on  the  I2th  of  January,  1865,  he  found 
himself  in  Richmond  face  to  face  with  the  Confederate  Presi 
dent.  What  transpired  is  accurately  known  from  accounts 
of  the  meeting  by  both  Blair  and  Davis.  The  former  ad 
mitted  frankly  that  Mr.  Lincoln  afforded  him  no  opportunity 
to  explain  the  object  of  his  mission,  and,  indeed,  appeared 
anxious  to  avoid  an  interview  on  that  subject.  When  he  had 
been  assured  that  the  Confederate  authorities  were  under  no 
engagements  to  European  powers  that  would  prevent  their 
entering  into  arrangements  with  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  Mr.  Blair  unfolded  his  plan  by  reading  to 
Mr.  Davis  a  carefully  prepared  paper  embodying  the  fol 
lowing  suggestions : 

Slavery,  he  said,  was  doomed,  for  even  the  South  itself  had 
proposed  to  employ  the  slave  in  winning  its  independence. 
That  institution,  therefore,  no  longer  remained  as  an  obstacle 
to  peace.  Louis  Napoleon,  he  continued,  had  declared  pub 
licly  that  his  object  was  to  make  the  Latin  race  supreme  in 
the  southern  part  of  North  America.  This,  indeed,  had  been 
an  idea  of  the  Emperor's  uncle,  who  desired  at  one  time  to 
make  conquests  of  territory  in  the  States  bordering  the  Gulf, 
and  the  foothold  already  effected  in  Mexico  was  one  step  in 
the  accomplishment  of  this  grand  design.  After  developing 
these  points  Mr.  Blair  added,  "Jefferson  Davis  is  the  for 
tunate  man  who  now  holds  the  commanding  position  to  en 
counter  this  formidable  scheme  of  conquest,  and  whose  fiat 
can  at  the  same  time  deliver  his  country  from  the  bloody 
agony  now  covering  it  in  mourning.  He  can  drive  Maxi 
milian  from  his  American  throne,  and  baffle  the  designs  of 
Napoleon  to  subject  our  Southern  people  to  the  '  Latin  race/  " 


392    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

How  this  was  to  be  accomplished  Mr.  Blair's  paper  out 
lined.  President  Lincoln's  amnesty  proclamation  looked  to 
an  armistice,  which  could  be  enlarged  to  embrace  all  engaged 
in  the  war;  then  by  secret  preliminaries  to  a  cessation  of 
hostilities  Mr.  Davis  could  transfer  to  Texas  such  a  portion 
of  the  Confederate  army  as  was  deemed  adequate  to  his 
purpose.  With  a  Southern  force  on  the  Rio  Grande  and 
Juarez  conciliated  it  could  enter  Mexico  and  expel  her  in 
vaders.  If  these  combined  forces  were  insufficient,  multi 
tudes  from  the  Federal  army,  officers  and  men,  would  be 
found  ready  to  engage  in  the  enterprise.  Both  Republicans 
and  Democrats  of  the  North  had  declared  their  adherence  to 
the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

After  thus  indicating  for  Mr.  Davis  a  means  of  escape 
from  his  dilemma  the  adroit  politician  next  appealed  power 
fully  to  his  desire  of  fame.  "  He  who  expels  the  Bonaparte- 
Hapsburg  dynasty  from  our  Southern  flank,"  proceeded  Mr. 
Blair,  "  which  General  Jackson  in  one  of  his  letters  warned 
me  was  the  vulnerable  point  through  which  foreign  invasion 
would  come,  will  ally  his  name  with  those  of  Washington 
and  Jackson  as  a  defender  of  the  liberty  of  the  country.  If 
in  delivering  Mexico  he  should  model  its  States  in  form  and 
principle  to  adapt  them  to  our  Union  and  add  a  new  Southern 
constellation  to  its  benignant  sky  while  rounding  off  our 
possessions  on  the  continent  at  the  Isthmus,  and  opening  the 
way  to  blending  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  thus 
embracing  our  Republic  in  the  arms  of  the  ocean,  he  would 
complete  the  work  of  Jefferson,  who  first  set  one  foot  of  our 
colossal  Government  on  the  Pacific  by  a  stride  from  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico."  > 

Blair  remarked  in  conclusion,  "  There  is  my  problem,  Mr. 
Davis;  do  you  think  it  possible  to  be  solved?  "  After  a  little 
consideration  came  the  reply,  "  I  think  so."  Touching  the 
1  N.  and  H.,  Vol.  X.  pp.  101-102. 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 


393 


question  of  bringing  the  sections  together  again  Mr.  Davis 
observed  that  though  a  spirit  of  vindictiveness  had  been  en 
gendered  by  the  war,  time  and  events  would  do  something 
toward  its  removal.  The  circumstance  of  Northern  and 
Southern  armies  united  in  a  common  cause  would,  he  be 
lieved,  assist  greatly  in  restoring  the  old  feeling.  He  also 
acknowledged  to  his  visitor  that  European  powers  were 
pleased  to  see  the  sections  exhausting  their  resources  in 
mutual  war. 

Thus  was  the  Confederate  leader  persuaded  to  entertain 
the  bold  project  of  conquering  Mexico  under  pretence  of 
relieving  the  Monroe  Doctrine  from  its  peril.  The  explana 
tion  of  this  easy  conversion,  however,  lies  mainly  in  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Davis,  however  he  might  endeavor  to  conceal  his 
convictions,  was  convinced  that  the  resources  of  the  South 
were  scarcely  equal  to  another  campaign.  Like  other  leaders 
of  the  Confederacy  he  was  anxious  to  seize  any  means  of 
escape  from  an  embarrassing  situation.  He  proposed  to  Mr. 
Blair,  therefore,  the  appointment  of  commissioners,  and  men 
tioned  Judge  Campbell,  formerly  of  the  United  States  Su 
preme  Court,  as  one  qualified  by  his  talents  and  integrity 
to  undertake  such  a  mission. 

During  his  short  sojourn  in  Richmond  Mr.  Blair  learned 
from  other  prominent  secessionists  the  hopelessness  of  the 
rebellion,  and  this,  perhaps,  was  the  only  tangible  result  of 
his  celebrated  intrigue.  To  initiate  the  project  Mr.  Davis 
handed  him  a  letter  to  be  shown  President  Lincoln.  That 
interesting  communication  was  as  follows: 

RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  12  Jany.,  '65. 
F.  P.  BLAIR,  Esq.: 

SIR:  I  have  deemed  it  proper,  and  probably  desirable  to  you,  to  give 
you,  in  this  form,  the  substance  of  remarks  made  by  me,  to  be  repeated 
by  you  to  President  Lincoln,  etc.,  etc.  I  have  no  disposition  to  find 
obstacles  in  forms,  and  am  willing  now,  as  heretofore,  to  enter  into 
negotiations  for  the  restoration  of  peace;  and  am  ready  to  send  a  com* 


394    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

mission  whenever  I  have  reason  to  suppose  it  will  be  received,  or  to 
receive  a  commission,  if  the  United  States  Government  shall  choose  to 
send  one.  That,  notwithstanding  the  rejection  of  our  former  offers,  I 
would,  if  you  could  promise  that  a  commissioner,  minister,  or  other  agent, 
would  be  received,  appoint  one  immediately,  and  renew  the  effort  to  enter 
into  conference,  with  a  view  to  secure  peace  to  the  two  countries. 

Yours,  etc., 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS/ 

'Mr.  Lincoln's  only  response  to  the  communication  thus 
brought  to  his  attention  was  to  open  a  little  wider  the  door 
for  negotiation  by  sending  to  Mr.  Blair  the  following  letter : 

WASHINGTON,  January  18,  1865. 
F.  P.  BLAIR,  Esq.: 

SIR:  You  having  shown  me  Mr.  Davis's  letter  to  you  of  the  I2th  in 
stant,  you  may  say  to  him  that  I  have  constantly  been,  am  now,  and 
shall  continue  ready  to  receive  any  agent  whom  he,  or  any  other  influential 
person  now  resisting  the  National  authority,  may  informally  send  to 
me,  with  the  view  of  securing  peace  to  the  people  of  our  one  common 
country.  Yours,  etc., 

A.  LINCOLN. 

With  this  note  Mr.  Blair  returned  to  Richmond  framing 
as  best  he  could  excuses  why  President  Lincoln  rejected  the 
overtures  of  Jefferson  Davis  for  a  joint  invasion  of  Mexico. 
With  the  nature  of  these  explanations  this  essay  is  not  con 
cerned.  To  cover  his  retreat  from  an  unsuccessful  intrigue 
the  disappointed  commissioner  then  suggested  that,  perhaps, 
Grant  and  Lee  could  enter  into  negotiations  for  peace  with 
more  assurance  of  success  than  politicians  could  hope  to  do. 
Though  Mr.  Davis  offered  no  objection  to  this  proposal, 
Blair  was  forced  soon  after  to  report  that  military  negotia 
tions  were  out  of  the  question. 

The  Confederate  leader  was  then  compelled  to  choose 
between  obstinate  perseverance  in  his  policy  of  a  war  for 
Southern  independence  or  to  accept  frankly  Mr.  Lincoln's 

1  N.  and  H.,  Vol.  X.  p.  107. 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION         395 

offer  of  reunion.  Blair's  first  visit  to  Richmond  did  not 
escape  observation,  and,  when  his  second  conference  was 
known,  interest  in  the  purpose  of  his  mission  became  intense. 
Without  some  effort  at  negotiation  Mr.  Davis  could  not  after 
ward  satisfy  the  peace  party  in  the  South  without  subjecting 
himself  to  the  injurious  imputation  of  preferring  war.  In 
these  circumstances,  and  after  consultation  with  his  cabinet, 
he  authorized  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  John  A.  Campbell  and 
R.  M.  T.  Hunter  to  proceed  to  Washington  as  a  commission 
for  the  purpose  of  informally  conferring  with  Mr.  Lincoln 
"  upon  the  issues  involved  in  the  existing  war,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  peace  to  the  two  countries."  They  were 
burdened  with  no  instructions,  and  only  one  condition  was 
insisted  upon,  that  is,  an  acknowledgment  of  Southern  in 
dependence. 

Toward  the  end  of  January  they  presented  themselves  at 
the  Federal  military  lines  near  Richmond,  and,  after  an 
exchange  of  telegrams  with  the  authorities  in  Washington, 
were  permitted  to  pass  on  to  Fortress  Monroe.  It  was  the 
original  intention  of  President  Lincoln  to  intrust  the  work 
of  the  conference  wholly  to  Secretary  Seward,  and  for  this 
purpose  he  gave  him  the  following  written  instructions  : 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  January  31,  1865. 

Hon.  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD,  'Secretary  of  State: 

You  will  proceed  to  Fortress  Monroe,  Virginia,  there  to  meet  and  in 
formally  confer  wtth  Messrs.  Stephens,  Hunter,  and  Campbell,  on  the 
basis  of  my  letter  to  F.  P.  Blair,  Esq.,  of  January  18,  1865,  a  copy  of 
which  you  have.  You  will  make  known  to  them  that  three  things  are  in 
dispensable,  to  wit:  First.  The  restoration  of  the  national  authority 
throughout  all  the  States.  Second.  No  receding  by  the  executive  of 
the  United  States  on  the  slavery  question  from  the  position  assumed 
thereon  in  the  late  annual  message  to  Congress,  and  in  preceding  docu 
ments.  Third.  No  cessation  of  hostilities  short  of  an  end  of  the  war 
and  the  disbanding  of  all  forces  hostile  to  the  Government.  You  will 


396    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

inform  them  that  all  propositions  of  theirs,  not  inconsistent  with  the 
above,  will  be  considered  and  passed  upon  in  a  spirit  of  sincere 
liberality.  You  will  hear  all  they  may  choose  to  say  and  report  it  to 
me.  You  will  not  assume  to  definitely  consummate  anything. 

Yours,  etc., 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.* 

The  different  if  not  conflicting  statements  as  to  the  object 
of  their  mission  nearly  led  to  a  return  of  the  Confederate 
representatives  without  any  interview  whatever.  General 
Grant,  fearing  the  unfavorable  influence  on  the  Union  cause 
of  such  a  result,  sent  to  Secretary  Stanton  a  confidential  dis 
patch  in  which  he  referred  to  the  evident  sincerity  of  Ste 
phens  and  Hunter.  He  also  expressed  his  regret  that  they 
were  about  to  return  without  an  expression  on  the  subject 
of  their  mission  from  any  person  in  authority.  President 
Lincoln,  who  was  about  to  recall  Mr.  Seward  by  telegraph, 
decided,  on  reading  Grant's  message,  to  join  his  Secretary  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  for  which  place  he  set  out  at  once. 

The  famous  conference,  which  took  place  February  3, 
1865,  on  board  a  steamer  at  Hampton  Roads,  has  been 
treated  in  detail  by  nearly  every  historian  of  the  Rebellion, 
and,  therefore,  need  only  be  briefly  noticed  in  these  pages. 
An  informal  discussion  of  four  hours  occurred  on  the  River 
Queen.  By  a  previous  agreement  no  writings  or  memoranda 
were  made;  hence  our  principal  knowledge  of  what  transpired 
at  that  celebrated  interview  is  derived  from  accounts  sub 
sequently  written  out  from  memory  by  the  Confederate  com 
missioners,  and  from  Secretary  Seward's  letter  to  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  United  States  Minister  to  England. 

Mr.  Stephens,  who  began  the  discussion,  asked  whether 
there  was  no  way  of  restoring  former  relations;  to  this  Mr. 
Lincoln  replied,  "  There  was  but  one  way  that  he  knew  of, 
and  that  was,  for  those  who  were  resisting  the  laws  of  the 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  644-645. 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION         397 

Union  to  cease  that  resistance."  Stephens  observed  that  they 
had  been  led  to  believe  that  both  sections  might  for  a  time 
cease  their  present  strife  and  unite  on  some  continental  ques 
tion  until  passion  had  somewhat  subsided  and  accommodation 
become  possible. 

To  this  suggestion  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  promptly :  "  I  sup 
pose  you  refer  to  something  that  Mr.  Blair  has  said.  Now 
it  is  proper  to  state  at  the  beginning  that  whatever  he  said 
was  of  his  own  accord,  and  without  the  least  authority  from 
me."  The  President  then  stated  that  before  the  visit  to 
Richmond  he  had  flatly  refused  to  hear  Mr.  Blair's  proposi 
tions;  he  was  willing,  however,  to  hear  proposals  for  peace 
on  the  conditions  expressed  in  his  reply  to  the  letter  of  Mr. 
Davis.  The  restoration  of  the  Union  was  a  sine  qua  non  with 
him,  therefore  his  instructions  that  no  conference  be  held 
except  on  that  basis. 

Though  the  Confederate  statesmen  had  resolved  not  to 
enter  into  any  agreement  that  would  require  their  forces  to 
unite  in  an  invasion  of  Mexico,  Mr.  Stephens  continued  to 
press  the  subject,  and  this  after  Mr.  Lincoln  had  refused 
even  to  discuss  the  question.  The  President  then  brought 
the  conversation  back  to  the  original  object  of  the  meeting, 
and  declared  that  he  could  not  entertain  a  proposition  looking 
to  an  armistice  until  the  paramount  question  of  reunion 
was  first  determined. 

The  terms  of  reunion  were  then  discussed.  On  this  subject 
Mr.  Lincoln  is  reported  by  the  commissioners  to  have  said 
that  the  shortest  way  to  effect  this  was  to  disband  the  in 
surgent  armies  and  permit  "  the  National  authorities  to  re 
sume  their  functions."  As  to  the  admission  of  members  to 
Congress  from  the  seceding  States  the  President  believed 
they  ought  to  be  received,  and  also  that  they  would  be;  how 
ever,  he  could  enter  into  no  stipulations  on  that  subject.  By  the 
cessation  of  resistance,  he  is  alleged  to  have  declared,  the 


398    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

States  would  be  immediately  restored  to  their  practical  rela 
tions  to  the  Union.  This  sentiment  was  probably  ascribed 
to  him  for  party  purposes. 

As  the  enforcement  of  the  confiscation  and  other  penal  laws 
was  left  entirely  with  him  he  assured  them  that  the  Execu 
tive  power  would  be  exercised  with  the  utmost  liberality. 
The  courts  could  determine  all  questions  involving  rights  of 
property,  and  Congress,  after  passion  had  been  somewhat  com 
posed,  would,  no  doubt,  be  liberal  in  making  restitution  of 
forfeited  property,  or  would  indemnify  those  who  had 
suffered. 

The  President  refused  to  promise  any  modification  what 
ever  of  the  terms  of  his  Emancipation  Proclamation.  He 
regarded  it  as  a  judicial  question.  How  the  courts  would 
decide  it  he  did  not  know.  His  own  opinion  was  that  as  the 
proclamation  was  only  a  war  measure,  as  soon  as  the  war 
ceased  it  would  be  inoperative  for  the  future.  It  would  be 
held  to  apply  only  to  such  slaves  as  had  come  under  its 
operation  while  it  was  in  active  exercise.  The  courts,  how 
ever,  might  hold  that  it  effectually  emancipated  all  the  slaves 
in  the  States  to  which  it  applied  at  the  time.  He  is  reported 
further  to  have  said  that  he  interfered  with  slavery  to  maintain 
the  Union,  and  then  only  with  hesitation  and  under  pressure  of 
a  public  necessity.  He  had  always  favored  emancipation,  but 
not  immediate  emancipation. 

On  the  same  occasion  he  is  said  to  have  stated  as  his 
belief  that  the  people  of  the  North  were  not  less  responsible 
for  slavery  than  those  of  the  South;  if  the  war  should  then 
cease,  with  the  voluntary  abolition  of  slavery  by  the  States, 
he  would  favor,  individually,  payment  by  the  Government 
of  a  fair  indemnity  for  the  loss  to  owners.  That  feeling,  he 
believed,  had  an  extensive  existence  in  the  loyal  States.  He 
knew  some  who  were  in  favor  of  an  appropriation  as  high 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION          399 

as  $400,000,000  for  that  purpose.  However,  he  could  enter 
into  no  stipulation.  He  merely  expressed  his  own  views 
and  what  he  believed  to  be  the  views  of  others  upon  the 
subject. 

Relative  to  the  division  of  Virginia  Mr.  Lincoln  said  he 
could  give  only  "  an  individual  opinion,  which  was,  that 
Western  Virginia  would  continue  to  be  recognized  as  a  sep 
arate  State  in  the  Union." 

Seward  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  commissioners  one 
topic  which  to  them  was  new,  that  is,  the  passage  by  Con 
gress  three  days  earlier  of  the  proposed  amendment  to  the 
Federal  Constitution.  He  is  reported  to  have  said  that  it 
was  passed  in  deference  to  the  war  spirit,  and  that  if  the 
South  would  agree  to  immediate  restoration  its  ratification 
might  be  defeated.  This,  however,  is  doubtful,  for  the  Cabi 
net  as  well  as  the  President  approved  the  action  of  Congress 
in  submitting  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  considera 
tion  of  the  States;  besides,  it  is  not  in  harmony  with  Mr. 
Seward's  anti-slavery  record. 

In  urging  on  Mr.  Stephens  separate  State  action  to  effect 
a  cessation  of  hostilities,  the  President  said :  "  If  I  resided 
in  Georgia,  with  my  present  sentiments,  I'll  tell  you  what  I 
would  do  if  I  were  in  your  place.  I  would  go  home  and  get 
the  Governor  of  the  State  to  call  the  Legislature  together, 
and  get  them  to  recall  all  the  State  troops  from  the  war; 
elect  Senators  and  Members  to  Congress,  and  ratify  this 
constitutional  amendment  prospectively,  so  as  to  take  effect 
—  say  in  five  years.  Such  a  ratification  would  be  valid,  in  my 
opinion.  I  have  looked  into  the  subject,  and  think  such 
a  prospective  ratification  would  be  valid.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  views  of  your  people  before  the  war,  they  must 
be  convinced  now  that  slavery  is  doomed.  It  cannot  last  long 
in  any  event,  and  the  best  course,  it  seems  to  me,  for  your 


400    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

public  men  to  pursue  would  be  to  adopt  such  a  policy  as  will 
avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  evils  of  immediate  emancipa 
tion.  This  would  be  my  course,  if  I  were  in  your  place."  l 

The  advice  was  wasted.  When  the  party  was  on  the 
point  of  separating,  Mr.  Stephens  again  asked  the  President 
to  reconsider  the  plan  of  an  armistice  on  the  basis  of  a 
Mexican  expedition.  "  Well,  Stephens,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"  I  will  reconsider  it;  but  I  do  not  think  my  mind  will 
change."  Thus  ended  the  famous  Hampton  Roads  confer 
ence. 

On  their  return  to  Richmond  the  commissioners  made  a 
formal  report  to  Mr.  Davis  of  the  failure  of  negotiations; 
this  he  transmitted  to  the  Confederate  Congress  with  an 
artful  letter  designed  to  strengthen  the  war  party  in  the 
South,  and  to  silence  effectually  the  adversaries  of  his  ad 
ministration.  To  improve  this  advantage  a  day  was  ap 
pointed  for  the  purpose  of  getting  a  popular  expression  on 
the  result  of  the  conference.  Business  was  generally  sus 
pended,  and  the  people  crowded  every  building  in  the  city 
suitable  for  holding  large  assemblies.  Churches,  theatres  and 
halls  of  legislation  were  engaged  for  the  occasion.  Twenty 
orators,  among  the  ablest  in  the  South,  told  their  hearers  of 
the  Northern  "ultimatum,"  not  omitting  to  describe  elo 
quently  all  the  consequences  of  subjugation.  The  old  war 
spirit  appeared  to  have  been  kindled  once  more;  "  But,"  says 
Mr.  Pollard,  "  it  was  only  the  sickly  glare  of  an  expiring 
flame;  there  was  no  steadiness  in  the  excitement;  there  was 
no  virtue  in  huzzas;  the  inspiration  ended  with  the  voices 
and  ceremonies  that  invoked  it;  and  it  was  found  that  the 
spirit  of  the  people  of  the  Confederacy  was  too  weak,  too 
much  broken  to  act  with  effect,  or  assume  the  position  of 

1  An  interesting  account  of  this  entire  subject  will  be  found  in  Nicolay 
and  Hay's  Lincoln,  Vol.  X.  ch.  VI. ;  see  also  Raymond's  Life  of  Lincoln, 
pp.  647-662. 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION          401 

erect  and  desperate  defiance."  1  In  March  General  Lee  re 
vealed  the  weakness  of  his  army  at  Fort  Steadman;  Grant's 
movements  around  Petersburg  followed  in  April;  the  rest  is  a 
familiar  story. 

From  this  brief  discussion  of  topics  only  allied  to  the  Presi 
dential  method  of  re-union  it  is  time  to  resume  our  examina 
tion  of  the  main  theme. 

It  is  almost  a  trite  observation  to  remark  that  President 
Lincoln's  opinions  on  public  questions  were  formed  only  after 
mature  deliberation,  and  that  to  the  conclusions  thus  reached 
he  adhered  with  inflexible  tenacity.  Notwithstanding  the  sen 
timents  of  Congress  on  the  question  of  reconstruction  he 
evinced  a  decided  preference  for  his  own.  This  is  proved 
by  a  number  of  letters  and  speeches  from  which  two  may  be 
selected  both  because  of  the  time  of  their  appearance  and 
the  station  of  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  To 
General  Hurlbut,  who  had  temporarily  succeeded  Banks  in 
command  at  New  Orleans,  the  President  wrote,  November 
14,  1864,  the  following  admonitory  letter: 

Few  things,  since  I  have  been  here,  have  impressed  me  more  painfully 
than  what,  for  four  or  five  months  past,  has  appeared  a  bitter  military 
opposition  to  the  new  State  government  of  Louisiana.  I  still  indulged 
some  hope  that  I  was  mistaken  in  the  fact;  but  copies  of  a  correspond 
ence  on  the  subject  between  General  Canby  and  yourself,  and  shown 
me  to-day,  dispel  that  hope.  A  very  fair  proportion  of  the  people  of 
Louisiana  have  inaugurated  a  new  State  government,  making  an  excel 
lent  new  constitution  —  better  for  the  poor  black  man  than  we  have  in 
Illinois.  This  was  done  under  military  protection,  directed  by  me,  in 
the  belief,  still  sincerely  entertained,  that  with  such  a  nucleus  around 
which  to  build  we  could  get  the  State  into  position  again  sooner  than 
otherwise.  In  this  belief  a  general  promise  of  protection  and  support, 
applicable  alike  to  Louisiana  and  other  States,  was  given  in  the  last 
annual  message.  During  the  formation  of  the  new  government  and  con 
stitution  they  were  supported  by  nearly  every  loyal  person,  and  opposed 
by  every  secessionist.  And  this  support  and  this  opposition,  from  the 
respective  standpoints  of  the  parties,  was  perfectly  consistent  and 

"The  Lost  Cause,  pp.  684-685. 


402    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

logical.  Every  Unionist  ought  to  wish  the  new  government  to  succeed; 
and  every  disunionist  must  desire  it  to  fail.  Its  failure  would  gladden 
the  heart  of  Slidell  in  Europe,  and  of  every  enemy  of  the  old  flag  in  the 
world.  Every  advocate  of  slavery  naturally  desires  to  see  blasted  and 
crushed  the  liberty  promised  the  black  man  by  the  new  constitution.  But 
why  General  Canby  and  General  Hurlbut  should  join  on  the  same  side 
is  to  me  incomprehensible. 

Of  course,  in  the  condition  of  things  at  New  Orleans,  the  military 
must  not  be  thwarted  by  the  civil  authority;  but  when  the  constitutional 
Convention,  for  what  it  deems  a  breach  of  privilege,  arrests  an  editor  in 
no  way  connected  with  the  military,  the  military  necessity  for  insulting  the 
Convention  and  forcibly  discharging  the  editor  is  difficult  to  perceive. 
Neither  is  the  military  necessity  for  protecting  the  people  against  paying 
large  salaries  fixed  by  a  legislature  of  their  own  choosing  very  apparent. 
Equally  difficult  to  perceive  is  the  military  necessity  for  forcibly  inter 
posing  to  prevent  a  bank  from  loaning  its  own  money  to  the  State.  These 
things,  if  they  have  occurred,  are,  at  the  best,  no  better  than  gratuitous 
hostility.  I  wish  I  could  hope  that  they  may  be  shown  to  not  have 
occurred.  To  make  assurance  against  misunderstanding,  I  repeat  that 
in  the  existing  condition  of  things  in  Louisiana,  the  military  must  not  be 
thwarted  by  the  civil  authority;  and  I  add  that  on  points  of  difference 
the  commanding  general  must  be  judge  and  master.  But  I  also  add  that 
in  the  exercise  of  this  judgment  and  control,  a  purpose,  obvious  and 
scarcely  unavowed,  to  transcend  all  military  necessity,  in  order  to  crush 
out  the  civil  government,  will  not  be  overlooked.1 

A  similar  communication,  though  less  peremptory  in  tone, 
he  felt  constrained  to  send  to  General  E.  R.  S.  Canby,  who 
had  been  assigned  to  command  in  the  military  division  of 
West  Mississippi.  Under  date  of  December  12,  1864,  he 
wrote  that  officer: 

I  think  it  is  probable  that  you  are  laboring  under  some  misapprehension 
as  to  the  purpose,  or  rather  the  motive,  of  the  Government  on  two 
points  —  cotton  and  the  new  Louisiana  State  government. 

It  is  conceded  that  military  operations  are  the  first  in  importance ;  and 
as  to  what  is  indispensable  to  these  operations,  the  department  com 
mander  must  be  judge  and  master. 

But  the  other  matters  mentioned  I  suppose  to  be  of  public  importance 
also;  and  what  I  have  attempted  in  regard  to  them  is  not  merely  a 
concession  to  private  interest  and  pecuniary  greed. 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  597-598. 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION         403 

As  to  the  new  State  government  of  Louisiana.  Most  certainly  there 
is  no  worthy  object  in  getting  up  a  piece  of  machinery  merely  to  pay 
salaries  and  give  political  consideration  to  certain  men.  But  it  is  a 
worthy  object  to  again  get  Louisiana  into  proper  practical  relations  with 
the  nation,  and  we  can  never  finish  this  if  we  never  begin  it.  Much 
good  work  is  already  done,  and  surely  nothing  can  be  gained  by 
throwing  it  away. 

I  do  not  wish  either  cotton  or  the  new  State  government  to  take 
precedence  of  the  military  while  the  necessity  for  the  military  remains ; 
but  there  is  a  strong  public  reason  for  treating  each  with  so  much  favor 
as  may  not  be  substantially  detrimental  to  the  military.1 

That  Mr.  Lincoln  never  modified  these  opinions  is  conclu 
sively  proved  by  the  last  public  utterance  of  his  life.  In 
addressing  the  citizens  of  Washington,  who  were  holding  a 
demonstration  in  consequence  of  Lee's  surrender,  the  Presi 
dent  on  the  evening  of  April  1 1  said : 

By  these  recent  successes  the  reinauguration  of  the  national  authority 
—  reconstruction  —  which  has  had  a  large  share  of  thought  from  the 
first,  is  pressed  much  more  closely  upon  our  attention.  It  is  fraught  with 
great  difficulty.  Unlike  a  case  of  war  between  independent  nations, 
there  is  no  authorized  organ  for  us  to  treat  with  —  no  one  man  has 
authority  to  give  up  the  rebellion  for  any  other  man.  We  simply  must 
begin  with  and  mold  from  disorganized  and  discordant  elements.  Nor 
is  it  a  small  additional  embarrassment  that  we,  the  loyal  people,  differ 
among  ourselves  as  to  the  mode,  manner,  and  measure  of  reconstruction. 
As  a  general  rule,  I  abstain  from  reading  the  reports  of  attacks  upon 
myself,  wishing  not  to  be  provoked  by  that  to  which  I  cannot  properly 
offer  an  answer.  In  spite  of  this  precaution,  however,  it  comes  to  my 
knowledge  that  I  am  much  censured  for  some  supposed  agency  in  setting 
up  and  seeking  to  sustain  the  new  State  government  of  Louisiana. 

In  this  I  have  done  just  so  much  as,  and  no  more  than,  the  public 
knows.  In  the  annual  message  of  December,  1863,  and  in  the  accom 
panying  proclamation,  I  presented  a  plan  of  reconstruction,  as  the 
phrase  goes,  which  I  promised,  if  adopted  by  any  State,  should  be  ac 
ceptable  to  and  sustained  by  the  executive  Government  of  the  nation. 
I  distinctly  stated  that  this  was  not  the  only  plan  which  might  possibly 
be  acceptable,  and  I  also  distinctly  protested  that  the  executive  claimed 
no  right  to  say  when  or  whether  members  should  be  admitted  to  seats 
in  Congress  from  such  States.  This  plan  was  in  advance  submitted  to 
the  then  Cabinet,  and  distinctly  approved  by  every  member  of  it.  One 

1  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  pp.  616-617. 


404    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  them  suggested  that  I  should  then  and  in  that  connection  apply  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  to  the  theretofore  excepted  parts  of  Virginia 
and  Louisiana ;  that  I  should  drop  the  suggestion  about  apprenticeship  for 
freed  people,  and  that  I  should  omit  the  protest  against  my  own  power 
in  regard  to  the  admission  of  members  of  Congress.  But  even  he  ap 
proved  every  part  and  parcel  of  the  plan  which  has  since  been  employed 
or  touched  by  the  action  of  Louisiana. 

The  new  constitution  of  Louisiana,  declaring  emancipation  for  the 
whole  State,  practically  applies  the  proclamation  to  the  part  previously 
excepted.  It  does  not  adopt  apprenticeship  for  freed  people,  and  it  is 
silent,  as  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise,  about  the  admission  of  members 
to  Congress.  So  that,  as  it  applies  to  Louisiana,  every  member  of  the 
Cabinet  fully  approved  the  plan.  The  message  went  to  Congress,  and  I 
received  many  commendations  of  the  plan,  written  and  verbal,  and  not  a 
single  objection  to  it  from  any  professed  emancipationist  came  to  my 
knowledge  until  after  the  news  reached  Washington  that  the  people  of 
Louisiana  had  begun  to  move  in  accordance  with  it.  From  about  July 
1862,  I  had  corresponded  with  different  persons  supposed  to  be  inter 
ested  [in]  seeking  a  reconstruction  of  a  State  government  for  Louisiana. 
When  the  message  of  1863,  with  the  plan  before  mentioned,  reached 
New  Orleans,  General  Banks  wrote  me  that  he  was  confident  that  the 
people,  with  his  military  cooperation,  would  reconstruct  substantially 
on  that  plan.  I  wrote  to  him  and  some  of  them  to  try  it.  They  tried 
it,  and  the  result  is  known.  Such  has  been  my  only  agency  in  getting 
up  the  Louisiana  government. 

As  to  sustaining  it,  my  promise  is  out,  as  before  stated.  But  as  bad 
promises  are  better  broken  than  kept,  I  shall  treat  this  as  a  bad  promise, 
and  break  it  whenever  I  shall  be  convinced  that  keeping  it  is  adverse 
to  the  public  interest;  but  I  have  not  yet  been  so  convinced.  I  have 
been  shown  a  letter  on  this  subject,  supposed  to  be  an  able  one,  in 
which  the  writer  expresses  regret  that  my  mind  has  not  seemed  to  be 
definitely  fixed  on  the  question  whether  the  seceded  States,  so  called, 
are  in  the  Union  or  out  of  it.  It  would  perhaps  add  astonishment  to 
his  regret  were  he  to  learn  that  since  I  have  found  professed  Union  men 
endeavoring  to  make  that  question,  I  have  purposely  forborne  any  public 
expression  upon  it.  As  appears  to  me,  that  question  has  not  been,  nor 
yet  is,  a  practically  material  one,  and  that  any  discussion  of  it,  while 
it  thus  remains  practically  immaterial,  could  have  no  effect  other  than 
the  mischievous  one  of  dividing  our  friends.  As  yet,  whatever  it  may 
hereafter  become,  that  question  is  bad  as  the  basis  of  a  controversy, 
and  good  for  nothing  at  all  —  a  merely  pernicious  abstraction. 

We  all  agree  that  the  seceded  States,  so  called,  are  out  of  their  proper 
practical  relation  with  the  Union,  and  that  the  sole  object  of  the  Govern 
ment,  civil  and  military,  in  regard  to  those  States  is  to  again  get  them 
into  that  proper  practical  relation.  I  believe  that  it  is  not  only  possible, 


INCIDENTS  OF  RECONSTRUCTION          405 

but  in  fact  easier,  to  do  this  without  deciding  or  even  considering 
whether  these  States  have  ever  been  out  of  the  Union,  than  with  it. 
Finding  themselves  safely  at  home,  it  would  be  utterly  immaterial 
whether  they  had  ever  been  abroad.  Let  us  all  join  in  doing  the  acts 
necessary  to  restoring  the  proper  practical  relations  between  these 
States  and  the  Union,  and  each  forever  after  innocently  indulge  his 
own  opinion  whether  in  doing  the  acts  he  brought  the  States  from 
without  into  the  Union,  or  only  gave  them  proper  assistance,  they  never 
having  been  out  of  it.  The  amount  of  constituency,  so  to  speak,  on 
which  the  new  Louisiana  government  rests,  would  be  more  satisfactory  to 
all  if  it  contained  50,000,  or  30,000,  or  even  20,000,  instead  of  only  about 
12,000,  as  it  does.  It  is  also  unsatisfactory  to  some  that  the  elective 
franchise  is  not  given  to  the  colored  man.  I  would  myself  prefer  that 
it  were  now  conferred  on  the  very  intelligent,  and  on  those  who  serve  our 
cause  as  soldiers. 

Still,  the  question  is  not  whether  the  Louisiana  government,  as  it 
stands,  is  quite  all  that  is  desirable.  The  question  is,  will  it  be  wiser 
to  take  it  as  it  is  and  help  to  improve  it,  or  to  reject  and  disperse  it? 
Can  Louisiana  be  brought  into  proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union 
sooner  by  sustaining  or  by  discarding  her  new  State  government?  Some 
twelve  thousand  voters  in  the  heretofore  slave  State  of  Louisiana  have 
sworn  allegiance  to  the  Union,  assumed  to  be  the  rightful  political 
power  of  the  State,  held  elections,  organized  a  State  government, 
adopted  a  free  State  constitution,  giving  the  benefit  of  public  schools 
equally  to  black  and  white,  and  empowering  the  legislature  to  confer  the 
elective  franchise  upon  the  colored  man.  Their  legislature  has  already 
voted  to  ratify  the  constitutional  amendment  recently  passed  by  Con 
gress,  abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  nation.  These  twelve  thou 
sand  persons  are  thus  fully  committed  to  the  Union  and  to  perpetual 
freedom  in  the  State  —  committed  to  the  very  things,  and  nearly  all  the 
things,  the  nation  wants  —  and  they  ask  the  nation's  recognition  and  its 
assistance  to  make  good  their  committal. 

Now,  if  we  reject  and  spurn  them,  we  do  our  utmost  to  disor 
ganize  and  disperse  them.  We,  in  effect,  say  to  the  white  man:  You 
are  worthless  or  worse;  we  will  neither  help  you,  nor  be  helped  by  you. 
To  the  blacks  we  say:  This  cup  of  liberty  which  these,  your  old 
masters,  hold  to  your  lips  we  will  dash  from  you,  and  leave  you  to  the 
chances  of  gathering  the  spilled  and  scattered  contents  in  some  vague 
and  undefined  when,  where,  and  how.  If  this  course,  discouraging  and 
paralyzing  both  white  and  black,  has  any  tendency  to  bring  Louisiana 
into  proper  practical  relations  with  the  Union,  I  have  so  far  been  unable 
to  perceive  it.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we  recognize  and  sustain  the  new 
government  of  Louisiana,  the  converse  of  all  this  is  made  true.  We 
encourage  the  hearts  and  nerve  the  arms  of  the  twelve  thousand  to 
adhere  to  their  work,  and  argue  for  it,  and  proselyte  for  it,  and  fight 


4o6    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

for  it,  and  feed  it,  and  grow  it,  and  ripen  it  to  a  complete  success.  The 
colored  man,  too,  in  seeing  all  united  for  him,  is  inspired  with  vigilance, 
and  energy,  and  daring,  to  the  same  end.  Grant  that  he  desires  the 
elective  franchise,  will  he  not  attain  it  sooner  by  saving  the  already 
advanced  steps  toward  it  than  by  running  backward  over  them?  Con 
cede  that  the  new  government  of  Louisiana  is  only  to  what  it  should 
be  as  the  egg  is  to  the  fowl,  we  shall  sooner  have  the  fowl  by  hatching 
the  egg  than  by  smashing  it. 

Again,  if  we  reject  Louisiana  we  also  reject  one  vote  in  favor  of  the 
proposed  amendment  to  the  national  Constitution.  To  meet  this  propo 
sition  it  has  been  argued  that  no  more  than  three  fourths  of  those  States 
which  have  not  attempted  secession  are  necessary  to  validly  ratify  the 
amendment.  I  do  not  commit  myself  against  this  further  than  to  say 
that  such  a  ratification  would  be  questionable,  and  sure  to  be  persistently 
questioned,  while  a  ratification  by  three  fourths  of  all  the  States  would 
be  unquestioned  and  unquestionable.  I  repeat  the  question:  Can 
Louisiana  be  brought  into  proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union 
sooner  by  sustaining  or  by  discarding  her  new  State  government? 
What  has  been  said  of  Louisiana  will  apply  generally  to  other  States. 
And  yet  so  great  peculiarities  pertain  to  each  State,  and  such  important 
and  sudden  changes  occur  in  the  same  State,  and  withal  so  new  and  un 
precedented  is  the  whole  case  that  no  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan  can 
safely  be  prescribed  as  to  details  and  collaterals.  Such  exclusive  and 
inflexible  plan  would  surely  become  a  new  entanglement.  Important 
principles  may  and  must  be  inflexible.  In  the  present  situation,  as  the 
phrase  goes,  it  may  be  my  duty  to  make  some  new  announcement  to  the 
people  of  the  South.  I  am  considering,  and  shall  not  fail  to  act  when 
satisfied  that  action  will  be  proper. 

The  promised  announcement  was  never  made;  for  within 
three  days  the  great  career  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  brought 
to  a  close.  The  inherent  difficulties  of  reconstruction,  as 
well  as  the  mischievous  consequences  of  faction  among  Union 
men,  he  perceived  and  acknowledged  at  the  outset.  Pre 
cisely  how  he  would  have  removed  the  one  and,  without 
breaking  with  his  party,  have  avoided  the  other  we  can  never 
know.  His  uniform  success  in  dealing  with  other  embar 
rassing  questions  appears  to  justify  the  opinion  that  he  would 
not  have  failed  altogether  in  solving  the  greater  problem  pre 
sented  by  the  return  of  peace.  This  subject  will  be  further 
discussed  in  the  succeeding  chapter. 


I  xii 

CULMINATION   OF   THE   PRESIDENTIAL 

PLAN 

ABLE  and  candid  exponents  of  public  opinion  in  the 
South,  even  those  who  were  a  part  of  the  "Lost 
Cause,"  are  almost  unanimous  in  regarding  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln  as  one  of  the  greatest 
calamities  that  befell  their  section  of  the  Union.1  Indeed, 
the  writer  has  heard  a  distinguished  editor  ascribe  to  Jefferson 
Davis  himself  the  opinion  that  next  to  the  failure  of  the  Con 
federacy  the  untimely  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  severest 
blow  inflicted  on  Southern  interests.2  Many  of  the  evils  ex 
perienced  by  their  States  during  the  early  years  of  Congres 
sional  reconstruction  would  have  been  avoided,  they  believe, 
under  a  continuance  of  the  wise  and  considerate  policy  of  the 
martyr  President.  While  it  is  true  that  the  confidence  which 
he  enjoyed  among  the  masses  in  the  loyal  States,  his  unques 
tionable  integrity  and  his  splendid  intellectual  powers  would 
have  made  him  a  formidable  adversary  even  in  a  controversy 
with  Congress,  yet  we  have  no  assurance  that  these  undoubted 
elements  of  strength  would  have  enabled  him,  in  the  confused 
times  following  the  Rebellion,  to  do  more  than  postpone  a  con 
test  with  the  Legislative  branch  in  which  a  desire  to  discipline 
the  South  was  even  then  winning  adherents.  The  passions 
of  the  hour  would  have  discovered  a  weakness  in  his  clemency 

*Why  the  Solid  South?  p.  I. 

"This  recollection  has  been  verified  by  correspondence  with  Col.  A. 
K.  McClure,  the  gentleman  referred  to. — AUTHOR. 

407 


4o8    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  the  vanquished,  while  his  very  breadth  of  soul  and  sense 
would  have  been  regarded  by  radical  members  of  his  party  as 
only  an  evidence  of  his  desire  to  facilitate  the  restoration  to 
power  of  red-handed  rebels.  But  it  is  idle  to  speculate  on 
what  might  have  been  the  result  of  his  endeavors  to  heal  the 
wounds  of  war,  for,  by  the  assassin's  bullet,  the  execution  of 
his  policy  passed  into  other  hands. 

While  the  terrible  tragedy  of  April  14  was  still  unknown  to 
a  great  majority  of  American  citizens,  Andrew  Johnson  was 
quietly  installed  in  the  office  of  President.  As  every  detail 
of  the  simple  ceremony  in  the  Kirkwood  Hotel  is  familiar  to 
this  generation  of  readers,  that  event  requires  only  a  passing 
allusion.  In  the  presence  of  the  constitutional  advisers  of 
his  predecessor,  except  Secretary  Seward,  who  had  been  dan 
gerously  wounded  by  one  of  Booth's  accomplices,  the  oath  of 
office  was  administered  by  Chief  Justice  Chase,  who,  with  the 
Attorney-General,  had  examined  the  precedents  and  the  law. 
Besides  these  officials  a  few  members  of  Congress,  who  still 
lingered  at  the  capital,  were  in  attendance  as  witnesses. 

Something  of  Andrew  Johnson's  political  career  has  been 
related  in  the  chapter  on  Tennessee.  As  military  governor 
of  that  State  his  high  courage,  his  acknowledged  patriotism, 
his  honesty  of  purpose  and  principle  were  evident  to  all. 
Traits  of  character  suspected,  but  not  then  fully  disclosed, 
were  developed  by  more  complex  conditions.  The  problem 
that  confronted  him  may  be  briefly  stated. 

When  Mr.  Johnson  succeeded  to  the  Presidential  office 
Confederate  armies  somewhat  broken,  indeed,  but  still  capable 
of  mischief  were  retarding  the  victorious  march  of  Sherman's 
legions.  Measures  for  disbanding  the  former  became  neces 
sary  when  Southern  leaders,  recognizing  the  hopelessness 
of  further  resistance,  made  overtures  looking  to  an  armis 
tice  which  took  place  and  to  the  surrender  that  subsequently 
followed.  It  became  necessary  to  discontinue  at  once  the 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  409 

enlistment  of  men  in  the  loyal  States,  and,  to  economize 
expense,  to  muster  out  of  service  as  expeditiously  as  possible 
the  grand  army  of  Union  volunteers.  The  energy  and  prompt 
ness  with  which  this  task  was  accomplished  were  not  the  least 
of  Secretary  Stanton's  services  to  the  nation.  The  perfec 
tion  to  which  years  of  experience  had  brought  the  machinery 
of  the  War  Department  enabled  the  bulk  of  the  Union  armies 
to  return  without  delay  to  their  homes,  where,  discarding  the 
character  of  soldiers,  they  melted  insensibly  into  the  civil 
population  and  speedily  resumed  the  pursuits  of  peace.  Rela 
tions  with  France  were  somewhat  strained,  and,  owing  to  a 
succession  of  unfriendly  acts,  a  war  with  Great  Britain  was 
not  improbable.  The  public  finances,  too,  required  attention. 
To  provide  a  revenue  adequate  to  the  extraordinary  demands 
of  the  time  was  beginning  to  tax  the  resources  of  Government. 
A  satisfactory  settlement  of  even  the  least  of  these  might  well 
have  appeared  a  serious  question.  The  cessation  of  hostilities, 
however,  presented  a  problem  far  transcending  the  greatest 
of  them  in  importance. 

Many  of  the  late  Confederate  States  were  threatened  with 
anarchy,  for  in  those  commonwealths  the  recent  authority  had 
been  extinguished  and  no  organizations  existed  which  the 
Administration  could  recognize  as  State  governments.  The 
political  reconstruction  of  four  of  them,  it  is  true,  had  been 
commenced  under  encouragement  and  direction  of  the  national 
Executive,  but  even  in  those  much  remained  to  be  done.  Be 
fore  examining  the  condition  of  the  insurgent  States  as  a 
whole  it  may  be  well,  therefore,  to  summarize  the  most  im 
portant  events  that  occurred  in  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  Louisi 
ana  and  Virginia  between  the  institution  of  loyal  governments 
in  those  commonwealths  and  the  meeting  of  the  Thirty-ninth 
Congress  in  December,  1865. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Arkansas,  though  lacking  its  full 
membership,  convened  in  March,  1865,  and  unanimously 


4io    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

adopted  on  April  14  succeeding  the  proposed  amendment  to  the 
Federal  Constitution.  The  action  of  Congress,  however,  in 
submitting  that  proposition  to  the  States  had  been  anticipated 
by  the  Union  men  of  that  commonwealth,  for  their  organic 
law  had  already  abolished  involuntary  servitude;  by  the  same 
instrument  they  had  repudiated  all  debts  created  in  the  conduct 
of  the  war,  thereby  complying  with  three  of  the  principal 
conditions  required  for  restoring  their  State  to  the  Union. 

During  the  same  session  an  act  passed  the  Legislature  dis 
franchising  all  citizens  who  had  aided  the  Confederate  cause 
after  the  organization,  April  18,  1864,  of  a  loyal  government. 
By  the  adversaries  of  this  measure  it  was  claimed  that  the 
lawmaking  body  exceeded  its  powers,  because  the  act  in 
effect  prescribed  qualifications  for  the  suffrage  different  from 
those  required  by  the  State  constitution,  and,  so  far  as  it 
attempted  to  deprive  citizens  of  their  privileges  without 
judicial  conviction  of  crime,  was  contrary  to  the  law  of  the 
land.  This  statute  awakened  the  indifferent,  and,  as  the  time 
approached  for  holding  Congressional  elections,  excited  con 
siderable  discussion. 

In  the  mean  time  the  new  government  silently  extended  its 
authority  over  those  parts  of  the  State  occupied  by  Southern 
soldiers  until  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  Governor  Flanigan 
on  retiring  suggested  that  Confederate  county  officers  be  con 
tinued  under  his  successor.  This  proposal,  however,  was 
promptly  rejected  and  the  secession  establishment  in  all  its 
parts  completely  ignored.  Governor  Murphy  then  published 
a  proclamation  urging  the  people  in  those  regions  hitherto 
dominated  by  the  enemy,  which  comprised  nearly  half  the 
counties  in  the  State,  to  assemble  and  renew  their  local  or 
ganizations.  His  address  was  favorably  received,  and  his  ad 
ministration  soon  acquiesced  in  throughout  the  commonwealth. 
Outrages  ceased  with  the  disappearance  of  Confederate 
soldiers,  and  by  the  beginning  of  July  judicial  tribunals  had 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  411 

been  revived  in  nearly  every  county.  Some  of  the  courts  had 
been  in  session,  and  most  of  them  were  prepared  to  meet 
regularly  for  the  transaction  of  business.  Taxes  were  col 
lected  as  quietly  as  before  the  war,  and  civil  process  could  be 
executed  in  every  part  of  the  State.  Hundreds  had  returned 
from  the  South  to  their  former  homes  and  resumed  the  pur 
suits  of  peace.  Discontent,  so  far  as  any  existed  in  the 
State,  was  confined  to  some  ex-Confederate  officers  and  to 
a  few  non-combatants  who  had  sympathized  with  the  re 
bellion.  Both  classes  advised  disregard  of  the  disfranchising 
law,  but  as  a  rule  the  returned  soldiers  on  both  sides  were 
quiet  and  orderly.  All  accounts  concur  in  representing  the 
pacification  of  Arkansas  as  complete  toward  the  end  of  sum 
mer,  and  by  October  13,  1865,  the  Secretary  of  State  was  able 
to  report  officially  that  the  new  government  was  in  success 
ful  operation,  the  civil  organization  of  every  county  having 
been  effected.  Governor  Murphy  in  approving  a  circular  pub 
lished  near  the  close  of  the  same  month  by  Brigadier  General 
Sprague,  an  assistant  commissioner  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau, 
enjoined  both  civil  officers  and  citizens  to  give  all  possible 
encouragement  to  the  officers  and  appointees  of  the  bureau.1 
The  President  on  receiving  intelligence  of  this  satisfactory 
condition  of  affairs  sent  to  Governor  Murphy  the  following 
dispatch : 

There  will  be  no  interference  with  your  present  organization  of  State 
government.  I  have  learned  from  E.  W.  Gantt,  Esq.,  and  other  sources, 
that  all  is  working  well,  and  you  will  proceed  and  resume  the  former 
relations  with  the  Federal  Government,  and  all  the  aid  in  the  power  of  the 
Government  will  be  given  in  restoring  the  State  to  its  former  relations.* 

As  the  time  approached  for  an  election  of  national  Repre 
sentatives,  the  Governor  issued  another  address  in  which  he 
advised  the  choice  of  persons  who  could  take  the  oath  required 

1  Ex.  Doc.  No.  70,  H.  of  R.,  i  Sess.  3Qth  Cong.,  p.  78. 
'Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  28. 


412    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

by  Congress.  Three  members  were  elected,  namely:  Wil 
liam  Ryers,  G.  H.  Kyle  and  James  M.  Johnson,  who  subse 
quently  appeared  at  Washington  and  presented  their  creden 
tials.1 

The  foregoing  account  of  the  situation  in  Arkansas  is  con 
firmed  by  the  testimony  of  General  Reynolds,  military  com 
mander  of  the  department,  who  had  sent  officers  into  all  the 
counties.  These  reported  civil  government  as  everywhere 
reestablished.  The  State,  they  asserted,  had  never  enjoyed 
greater  tranquillity.  There  was  not  a  shadow  of  conflict  be 
tween  the  civil  and  the  military  authority,  for  the  latter  in 
sustaining  the  former  was  careful  not  to  encroach  on  any  of 
its  functions.  In  short,  the  restoration  of  civil  law  in  that 
State  was  universally  admitted. 

In  two  thirds  of  the  counties,  however,  great  destitution 
prevailed.  Early  in  the  summer  the  General  Government  felt 
compelled  to  distribute  among  indigent  freedmen  and  refugees 
vast  quantities  of  food,  and  Northern  generosity  alone,  the 
Governor  declared,  could  prevent  great  distress  during  the 
ensuing  winter.  Nor  was  his  expectation  disappointed.  It 
is  a  splendid  tribute  to  the  character  of  Americans  that  one  of 
the  most  destructive  conflicts  in  history,  with  all  the  animosi 
ties  which  protracted  civil  wars  engender,  did  not  perceptibly 
impair  in  them  the  feelings  of  humanity. 

The  organization  of  a  Union  government  in  Tennessee  has 
elsewhere  been  described.  The  Assembly  chosen  under  its 
authority  met  at  Nashville  on  the  2d  of  April,  1865,  and 
three  days  later  ratified  the  Thirteenth  Amendment.  On  the 
2  ist  the  President  was  requested  to  proclaim  the  insurrection 
at  an  end  in  that  commonwealth,  though  a  few  weeks  later  he 
was  called  upon  for  troops  to  guarantee  a  republican  form  of 
government  and  to  protect  the  State  against  invasion  and 
domestic  violence.  Besides  appointing  executive  officers  the 

'Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  28. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  413 

Legislature  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  David  T.  Pat 
terson  and  Joseph  S.  Fowler. 

The  most  important  measure  of  the  session,  however,  was 
the  enactment  on  June  5  of  a  severe  law  affecting  the  elective 
franchise.  By  it  the  right  to  vote  was  restricted,  as  formerly, 
to  white  males  who  had  attained  their  twenty-first  year.  To 
the  classes  excepted  by  the  Proclamation  of  December  8,  1863, 
were  added  all  those  who  had  left  seats  in  the  General  Assem 
bly,  all  who  were  absentees  from  the  United  States  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  the  rebellion  and  all  who  had  fled  within 
the  Confederate  lines  with  the  same  intention.  These  were 
disfranchised  for  the  period  of  fifteen  years  from  the  passage 
of  the  act.1 

During  this  session  there  was  presented  by  the  freedmen 
of  the  State  a  petition  for  the  elective  franchise.  The  "  col 
ored  citizens  of  Tennessee,"  as  they  styled  themselves,  re 
ceived  no  response  to  their  prayer  beyond  the  approval  of 
an  order  for  printing  500  copies  of  their  memorial.  The  mo 
tion  for  this  trifling  concession  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  41 
to  10. 

On  June  12  the  Legislature  adjourned  until  the  first  Mon 
day  in  October.  On  the  same  day  Governor  Brownlow  or 
dered  an  election  to  be  held  on  August  2  for  Representatives 
to  Congress  in  each  of  the  eight  districts  into  which  the 
State  had  just  been  divided.  Vacancies  in  the  General  Assem 
bly  were  directed  to  be  filled  at  the  same  time. 

The  disfranchising  act,  with  the  oath  required  thereunder, 
had  the  effect  of  excluding  a  large  number,  probably  three 
fourths,  of  the  citizens  from  voting.  Its  adversaries  declared 
the  law  unconstitutional,  and  it  encountered  much  opposition, 
especially  in  Middle  and  West  Tennessee.  Its  constitution 
ality,  however,  was  sustained  by  one  of  the  State  courts  in  a 
decision  rendered  June  29,  and  the  Governor,  in  a  proclama- 

1  Acts  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  1865,  p.  33. 


414    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

tion  of  July  10  succeeding,  argued  in  favor  of  the  statute. 
Those  who  should  unite  to  defeat  its  execution  would  be  "  de 
clared  in  rebellion  against  the  State  of  Tennessee,  and  dealt 
with  as  rebels."  It  was  further  signified  that  votes  cast  in 
violation  of  the  law  would  not  be  taken  into  account  by  the 
Secretary  of  State. 

Nor  were  these  idle  threats,  for  the  civil  officers  were 
instructed  "  to  arrest  and  bring  to  justice  all  persons  who, 
under  pretence  of  being  candidates  for  Congress  or  other 
office,  are  traveling  over  the  State  denouncing  and  nullifying 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  land,  and  spreading  sedition 
and  a  spirit  of  rebellion."  1 

It  was  relative  to  these  measures  that  President  Johnson 
on  July  20,  1865,  sent  the  following  despatch  to  Governor 
Brownlow : 

I  hope  and  have  no  doubt  you  will  see  that  the  recent  amendments 
to  the  constitution  of  the  State  as  adopted  by  the  people,  and  all  the 
laws  passed  by  the  last  Legislature  in  pursuance  thereof,  are  fairly 
executed,  and  that  all  illegal  votes  in  the  approaching  election  be 
exclude  \  from  the  polls,  and  the  election  for  members  of  Congress  be 
legally  and  fairly  conducted.  When  and  wherever  it  becomes  necessary 
to  enploy  force  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  protection  of 
the  ballot-box  from  violence  and  fraud,  you  are  authorized  to  call 
upon  Ma j. -Gen.  Thomas  for  sufficient  military  force  to  sustain  the 
civil  authorities  of  the  State.  I  have  received  your  recent  address  to 
the  people,  and  think  it  well  timed,  and  hope  it  will  do  much  good  in 
reconciling  the  opposition  to  the  amendment  to  the  constitution  and  the 
laws  passed  by  the  last  Legislature.  The  law  must  be  executed  and  the 
civil  authority  sustained.  In  your  efforts  to  do  this,  if  necessary,  Gen. 
Thomas  will  afford  a  sufficient  military  force.  You  are  at  liberty  to 
make  what  use  you  think  proper  of  this  despatch.1 

Though  no  violence  marked  the  election,  considerable 
irregularities,  notwithstanding  the  Governor's  precautions,  ap 
pear  to  have  crept  into  modes  of  registration,  and  he  felt  com- 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  779. 
'Ibid. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  415 

pelled  in  consequence  to  reject  the  ballots  of  twenty-nine 
counties.  In  this  contest  61,783  citizens  participated,  but 
when  those  illegally  enrolled  were  disregarded  the  number 
was  reduced  to  39,509.  The  defective  vote,  which  applied  to 
all  the  candidates,  was  thrown  out  in  every  county,  though  it 
changed  the  result  in  only  one  district.  Of  the  eight  Repre 
sentatives  chosen  all  were  Union  men;  four,  however,  were 
conservatives,  opposed  both  to  test  oaths  and  measures  of 
disfranchisement.1  Governor  Brownlow  because  of  his  action 
was  severely  censured,  but  was  supported  by  a  majority  of 
the  General  Assembly. 

In  October,  when  the  Legislature  reassembled,  a  bill  to 
render  persons  of  African  and  of  Indian  descent  competent 
witnesses  in  the  State  courts  passed  the  Senate  by  the  close 
vote  of  10  to  9,  but  failed  altogether  to  receive  the  approval 
of  the  House.  The  Representatives  of  his  State  declined  at 
that  time,  by  a  vote  of  35  to  25,  to  pass  a  simple  resolution 
endorsing  the  Administration  of  President  Johnson,  but  al 
most  unanimously  adopted  in  place  of  that  proposition  the 
following : 

Resolved,  That  we  endorse  the  administration  of  his  Excellency  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  his  declaration  that  treason 
shall  be  made  odious,  and  traitors  punished.3 

A  colored  convention  representing  the  freedmen  of  the 
State  was  held  at  the  capital  during  the  week  succeeding  the 
election.  If  the  Legislature  did  not  grant  before  December  I, 
1865,  their  petition  for  the  elective  franchise,  this  body  re- 

*This  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Nathaniel  G.  Taylor,  Horace 
Maynard,  Edmund  Cooper,  Isaac  R.  Hawkins,  John  W.  Leftwich,  William 
B.  Stokes,  William  B.  Campbell  and  Dorsey  B.  Thomas.  The  last  named, 
however,  was  affected  by  the  Governor's  recount,  and  Daniel  W.  Arnell, 
who  was  declared  the  successful  candidate,  was  admitted  to  Congress 
with  the  other  Tennessee  Representatives  on  the  24th  of  July,  1866.  See 
Why  the  Solid  South?  pp.  182-183. 

*  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  780. 


4i 6    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

solved  to  protest  against  the  admission  of  the  Tennessee  dele 
gation  to  Congress.  On  the  question  of  negro  suffrage  the 
Governor  in  his  October  message  said: 

I  think  it  would  be  bad  policy,  as  well  as  wrong  in  principle,  to  open 
the  ballot-box  to  the  uninformed  and  exceedingly  stupid  slaves  of  the 
Southern  cotton,  rice,  and  sugar  fields.  If  allowed  to  vote,  the  great 
majority  of  them  would  be  influenced  by  leading  secessionists  to  vote 
against  the  Government,  as  they  would  be  largely  under  the  influence  of 
this  class  of  men  for  years  to  come,  having  to  reside  on  and  cultivate 
their  lands.  When  the  people  of  Tennessee  become  satisfied  that  the 
negro  is  worthy  of  suffrage,  they  will  extend  it,  and  not  before;  and  I 
repeat  that  this  question  must  be  regulated  by  the  State  authorities  and  by 
the  loyal  voters  of  the  State,  not  by  the  General  Government.1 

Apprehending  trouble  from  the  antagonism  of  races  Mr. 
Brownlow  advocated  the  old  idea  of  colonization  for  the 
black  man.  He  believed,  however,  that  negroes  should  be  ad 
mitted  to  testify  in  the  courts  and  argued  in  favor  of  con 
ferring  such  a  privilege.  Repugnance  to  their  testimony,  he 
declared,  was  due  principally  to  education  and  habit. 

If  the  following  account  from  The  Knoxville  Whig  of 
September  27  is  trustworthy  the  freedmen  of  Tennessee  had 
but  a  slender  claim  to  the  right  to  vote.  That  journal  said : 

Thousands  of  free  colored  persons  are  congregating  in  and  around  the 
large  towns  in  Tennessee,  and  thousands  are  coming  in  from  other 
States,  one  third  of  whom  cannot  get  employment.  Indeed,  less  than 
one  third  of  them  want  employment,  or  feel  willing  to  stoop  to  work. 
They  entertain  the  erroneous  idea  that  the  Government  is  bound  to 
supply  all  their  wants,  and  even  to  furnish  them  with  houses,  if,  in 
order  to  do  that,  the  white  occupants  must  be  turned  out.  There  is  a 
large  demand  for  labor  in  every  section  of  the  State,  but  the  colored 
people,  with  here  and  there  a  noble  exception,  scorn  the  idea  of  work. 
They  fiddle  and  dance  at  night,  and  lie  around  the  stores  and  street 
corners  in  the  day  time." 

The  Governor's  message,  sent  in  at  this  session,  was  hope 
ful  in  tone.  He  favored  some  amendment  but  not  a  repeal 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  781. 
"Ibid. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  417 

of  the  franchise  law.  He  advised  also  a  "  full  pardon  to  the 
masses  —  the  young  and  the  deluded,  who  followed  blindly 
the  standard  of  revolt,  provided  they  act  as  becomes  their  cir 
cumstances."  The  unrepentant,  however,  should  suffer  the 
period  of  disfranchisement;  while  the  active  leaders,  he  be 
lieved,  were  entitled  "  neither  to  mercy  nor  forbearance."  To 
some  negroes  he  would  give  the  right  of  suffrage,  but,  believ 
ing  it  unsafe,  he  was  opposed  to  conferring  it  on  them  all. 

Tennessee,  over  which  advancing  and  retreating  armies  had 
repeatedly  passed,  suffered  even  more  severely  than  Arkansas, 
for  besides  having  been  the  principal  theatre  of  operations  for 
the  contending  hosts  in  the  West,  her  territory  had  also  been 
in  the  early  rule  of  Governor  Johnson  the  scene  of  local 
strife.  Old  family  feuds  that  for  various  reasons  had  been 
allowed  to  slumber  were  in  many  instances  revived,  and  the 
most  lawless  outrages  perpetrated  in  the  face  of  day.  These 
disorders,  however,  had  practically  ceased  toward  the  con 
clusion  of  his  governorship,  and  peace  reigned  once  more 
within  the  borders  of  that  community.  The  existence  there 
of  a  considerable  demand  for  labor  assisted  greatly  in  dimin 
ishing  the  burden  of  the  authorities. 

The  closing  months  of  the  war  found  the  loyal  government 
of  Louisiana  endeavoring  with  the  influence  of  the  Union 
army  to  extend  its  jurisdiction  over  all  the  territory  that  had 
been  brought  under  Federal  control.  Notwithstanding  its 
contracted  area  this  commonwealth  for  certain  purposes  was 
treated  as  a  restored  member  of  the  Union.  Like  the  Northern 
States  it  was  affected  by  the  draft  which,  on  February  15,  took 
place  in  some  districts  included  in  the  Department  of  the 
Gulf.  But  the  great  struggle  that  for  four  years  had  em 
ployed  the  attention  and  tested  the  resources  of  the  Govern 
ment  soon  reached  its  close,  thus  rendering  unnecessary  any 
field  service  from  the  recruits  then  obtained. 

Though  the  attitude  of  Congress  toward  the  Banks  gov- 


4i 8    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

ernment  has  been  described  in  the  preceding  pages,  that  was 
not  believed  the  proper  place  to  examine  the  nature  of  the 
election  which  was  held  on  September  5,  or  the  personnel 
of  the  Legislature  chosen  on  that  occasion.  In  connection 
with  the  appointment  by  that  assembly  of  Messrs.  Smith  and 
Cutler  as  United  States  Senators  the  subject  was  noticed  in 
cidentally.  The  action  of  Congress  on  the  question  of  admit 
ting  members  from  Louisiana  was,  however,  fully  entered 
into  in  that  relation. 

Some  additional  information  affecting  the  validity  of  that 
election  is  afforded  by  a  proclamation  published  May  13,  1865, 
by  the  acting  Governor,  J.  Madison  Wells.1  This  document  as 
serts  that  the  Register  of  Voters  for  the  city  of  New  Orleans 
declared  officially  that  there  had  been  enrolled  5,000  persons 
who  did  not  possess  the  legal  qualifications  for  electors.  To 
ascertain  the  political  people,  therefore,  a  new  registration  was 
thought  desirable.  Mr.  Wells  accordingly  declared  the  old 
records  closed  from  the  date  of  his  proclamation.  The  certifi 
cates  granted  thereon,  as  well  as  the  enrollment,  were  pro 
nounced  null  and  void.  He  then  authorized  the  opening  on 
June  i,  1865,  of  a  new  set  of  books,  the  enrollment  to  be  made 
in  accordance  with  the  qualifications  prescribed  by  the  consti 
tution  and  laws  of  Louisiana.  The  old  registration  having 
been  made  under  an  order  of  General  Banks  this  announce 
ment  led  at  once  to  a  difference  between  the  Department  Com 
mander  and  the  acting  Governor.  Many  names  recorded  on 
the  old  books  were  alleged  to  have  been  those  of  colored  men, 
and  a  circumstance  presently  to  be  related  tends  to  support 
the  assertion. 

About  that  time  the  Confederate  Governor,  Allen,  trans 
ferred  to  Federal  officials  all  the  important  military  records 

1  Having  been  elected  United  States  Senator,  Mr.  Hahn  resigned  the 
governorship  on  the  4th  of  March  and  was  succeeded  in  office  by  Lieu 
tenant-Governor  Wells. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  419 

in  his  possession,  and  from  his  capital  at  Shreveport  pub 
lished  a  communication  in  which  he  announced  his  administra 
tion  closed  on  that  day.  He  said  in  part :  "  The  war  is  over, 
the  contest  is  ended,  the  soldiers  are  disbanded  and  gone 
home,  and  now  there  is  in  Louisiana  no  opposition  whatever 
to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States."  l 

On  June  10  an  address  to  the  people  of  thirty-five  parishes 
was  issued  by  the  new  Governor,  who  congratulated  them  on 
their  return  to  the  protection  of  the  national  flag.  It  was 
not  with  the  past,  he  reminded  them,  but  with  the  present  and 
the  future  that  their  welfare  was  bound  up.  They  were  ex 
horted  to  go  manfully  to  work  and  reestablish  civil  govern 
ment.  The  submission  to  law  and  the  prompt  acquiescence 
of  those  recently  hostile  to  the  United  States  he  regarded 
as  a  hopeful  sign.  Even  the  soldiers,  he  said,  returned  to 
their  homes  better  and  wiser  men,  promising  by  a  cheerful 
obedience  to  law  to  atone  for  past  errors.  All  citizens  were 
urged  to  imitate  their  example.  Provisional  appointments 
to  county  offices  would  be  made  until  they  could  be  filled  by 
election.  In  naming  persons  for  such  places  the  Governor 
promised  to  be  guided  by  the  recommendation  of  the  people 
if  they  selected  men  of  good  reputation  who  had  taken  the 
amnesty  oath,  which  would  be  a  prerequisite  in  every  case.  If 
the  people  did  not  act  promptly  he  would  feel  compelled  to 
make  appointments  upon  the  best  information  obtainable.  If 
errors  were  made,  then  citizens  would  be  themselves  to  blame 
for  neglecting  promptly  to  suggest  the  proper  persons.  A 
provisional  judiciary  would  also  be  constituted. 

Important  elections,  he  announced,  would  take  place  in 
the  autumn,  when  Representatives  to  Congress  and  members 
of  a  Legislature  would  be  chosen.  If  each  parish  was  pro 
vided  with  the  proper  officers  to  open  the  polls  an  election 
for  governor  and  other  State  officers  would  take  place  at  the 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  510. 


420    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

same  time.  The  people  addressed  were  informed  that  in 
making  the  new  constitution  its  framers  did  not  intend  to 
deprive  them  of  their  rights.  The  response  to  this  appeal 
'  was  a  local  reorganization  in  nearly  all  the  parishes  affected. 
Governor  Wells,  on  September  21,  in  a  second  order  ap 
pointed  the  6th  of  November  succeeding  as  the  day  for  hold 
ing  the  election,  and  also  defined  the  qualifications  of  voters. 
White  male  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  had  attained  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years  and  had  resided  twelve  months  in 
the  commonwealth  were  declared  entitled  to  exercise  the 
suffrage.  Evidence  was  also  required  of  every  elector  that 
he  had  taken  the  oath  of  amnesty  contained  in  the  proclama 
tion  of  December  8,  1863,  or  that  prescribed,  May  29,  1865, 
by  Mr.  Johnson.  The  excepted  classes  could  vote  only  upon 
receiving  a  special  pardon  from  the  President.  In  other 
respects  the  election  would  be  conducted  in  accordance  with 
the  constitution  of  1852. 

By  a  Democratic  convention,  held  October  2  in  New  Or 
leans,  at  which  twenty-one  parishes  were  unrepresented,  Mr. 
Wells  was  unanimously  nominated  for  Governor.  The  pre 
amble  to  a  body  of  resolutions  adopted  on  that  occasion  asserts 
that  the  issue  which  for  four  years  had  tried  the  strength  of 
the  Government  had  been  made  openly  and  manfully;  that 
the  decision  having  been  adverse  they  now  came  forward  in 
the  same  spirit  of  frankness  and  honor  to  support  the  Federal 
Government  under  the  Constitution. 

The  "  National  Democratic  "  party  they  believed  to  be  the 
only  agency  by  which  radicalism,  to  which  they  imputed  a 
tendency  toward  consolidation,  could  be  successfully  encoun 
tered,  and  through  which  the  General  Government  could  be 
restored  to  its  pristine  purity.  On  the  subject  of  reorganiza 
tion  they  endorsed  President  Johnson's  policy,  which,  it  was 
alleged,  preserved  unimpaired  the  rights  of  the  States  and 
maintained  their  equality  in  the  Union. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  421 

Noticing  a  question  already  assuming  importance,  they 
declared  that,  in  accordance  with  the  constant  adjudication 
of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court,  persons  of  African  descent 
could  not  be  regarded  as  citizens  of  the  United  States;  that 
under  no  circumstances  could  there  exist  any  equality  between 
the  white  and  other  races;  that  as  the  national  Government 
was  instituted  by,  so  it  was  designed  to  be  perpetuated  for 
the  exclusive  benefit  of,  white  men.  For  the  time  they  were 
content  with  this  oblique  reference  to  the  subject  of  negro 
suffrage.  Another  resolution  advised  the  calling  of  a  con 
vention  to  frame  a  constitution  for  the  State,  that  of  1864 
being  characterized  as  the  creation  of  fraud,  violence  and  cor 
ruption. 

This  convention,  which  admitted  the  effectual  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  South,  assumed  that  those  who  had  sustained 
loss  by  the  policy  of  emancipation  could  rightfully  petition 
Congress  for  compensation.  The  repeal  was  also  advocated 
of  those  statutes  and  ordinances  not  in  harmony  with  the 
Federal  Constitution.  Believing  it  consonant  with  "  the  chiv 
alrous  magnanimity ''  of  President  Johnson  the  convention 
earnestly  appealed  for  an  early  general  amnesty  and  a  prompt 
restitution  of  property. 

Almost  a  month  preceding  the  meeting  of  this  convention 
an  address  was  circulated  by  the  "  National  Conservative 
Union "  party,  whose  representatives  assembled  one  week 
later  than  the  Democratic  delegates.  Its  members  opposed 
both  an  extension  of  suffrage  to  negroes  and  the  calling  of 
a  new  constitutional  convention.  Like  the  Democratic  dele 
gates  they  endorsed  the  reconstruction  policy  of  the  Presi 
dent.  They  approved  the  attitude  of  their  conservative  North 
ern  friends  who  opposed  radicalism  and  an  elevation  of  the 
freedmen  to  political  equality  with  whites.  The  doctrine  of 
secession  was  repudiated,  and  to  the  payment  of  all  obliga 
tions  created  in  carrying  on  the  war  they  declared  themselves 


422    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

inflexibly  opposed.  They,  too,  favored  the  speedy  passage 
of  an  act  of  general  amnesty  as  well  as  a  repeal  of  the  con 
fiscation  law. 

Governor  Wells  was  also  the  choice  of  this  convention.  He 
accepted  both  nominations  and  perceived  no  inconsistency  in 
doing  so,  never,  he  asserted,  having  been  a  strict  party  man. 
Mr.  Wells,  who  had  formerly  been  a  Red  River  planter, 
proved  his  loyalty  to  the  Federal  Government  by  coming 
within  the  Union  lines  as  soon  as  they  were  established,  and 
bringing  with  him  his  slaves,  thereby  endangering  somewhat 
his  ownership. 

Though  he  had  not  yet  returned  to  his  home,  the  friends 
of  Henry  Watkins  Allen,  the  late  Confederate  executive, 
named  him  as  their  candidate  for  governor. 

In  the  election,  which  was  held  at  the  appointed  time,  the 
entire  vote  polled  was  27,808,  of  which  Governor  Wells  re 
ceived  23,312,  and  ex-Governor  Allen,  5,497.  In  every  county 
except  one  the  Democratic  ticket  for  members  of  the  Legis 
lature  was  successful. 

Perhaps  the  most  instructive  incident  of  this  contest  was 
the  part  played  by  those  known  as  "  Radical  "  Republicans. 
These  held  a  mass-meeting  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  on 
November  13  at  which  were  adopted  resolutions  claiming  the 
election  to  Congress  of  Henry  C.  Warmoth  as  territorial 
Delegate.  When  he  subsequently  appeared  in  Washington 
his  case  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  House  by  Thad- 
deus  Stevens,  who  offered,  December  20,  1865,  what  pur 
ported  to  be  a  certificate  of  Warmoth's  election  as  Delegate 
from  the  "  Territory  of  Louisiana."  On  request  of  the 
Pennsylvania  leader  this  document  was  referred  to  the  Joint 
Committee  on  Reconstruction.1 

This  extreme  element,  which  assumed  to  regard  Louisiana 
as  a  Territory,  polled  19,000  votes,  most  of  which  were  alleged 
*  Globe,  Part  I.,  i  Sess.  39th  Cong.,  p.  101. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  423 

to  have  been  cast  by  colored  men.  It  declared  the  State  or 
ganization  repugnant  to  the  Federal  Constitution  both  in  law 
and  effect.  The  President,  it  was  asserted,  could  not  restore 
Louisiana  by  proclamation,  for  reinstatement  could  be  ac 
complished  in  a  constitutional  manner  only  by  petitioning 
Congress  for  admission  whenever  a  majority  of  the  people 
deemed  such  a  course  expedient,  and  the  temper  of  the  whites, 
nine  tenths  of  whom  were  disloyal,  rendered  it  inadvisable 
at  that  time  to  take  such  a  step.  The  meeting  rejoiced  that 
the  Republican  party  in  the  North  had  triumphed  in  the 
recent  elections,  for  these  victories  pointed  to  ultimate  suc 
cess.  The  premature  admission  of  Louisiana  Congressmen, 
by  placing  the  Union  people  under  rebel  rule,  would  be  dis 
astrous.  However,  as  loyal  citizens  they  would  confine  them 
selves  to  peaceable  means  of  redress. 

Warmoth  appears  shortly  before  the  end  of  the  war  to  have 
gone  into  Louisiana  with  the  Union  army,  in  which  he  is 
said  by  one  authority  to  have  acquired  the  reputation  of  a 
brave  soldier  and  by  another  to  have  merited  dismissal  from 
its  ranks.1  By  organizing  the  freedmen  and  insisting  upon 
their  political  rights  he  won  their  confidence;  his  shrewdness 
and  engaging  address  retained  their  gratitude.  In  this  elec 
tion  his  adherents  not  only  sought  to  determine  the  Federal  re 
lations  of  Louisiana,  but  also  conferred  upon  negroes  the  priv 
ilege  of  voting,  for  there  was  then  no  law  of  either  the  Gen 
eral  or  State  government  investing  them  with  any  such  right. 

The  Legislature,  which  was  convoked  in  special  session, 
assembled  at  New  Orleans  on  the  23d  of  November.  The 
Governor's  message  on  that  occasion  related  chiefly  to  such 
local  objects  as  required  the  attention  of  the  lawmaking  body. 
By  recommending  an  election  of  United  States  Senators  Mr. 
Wells  repudiated  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly,  which, 

1  Three  Decades  of  Federal  Legislation,  p.  429;  also  Why  the  Solid 
South?  p.  397. 


424    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

at  the  preceding  session,  had  appointed  Messrs.  Smith  and 
Cutler  to  represent  the  State.  Acting  upon  the  Governor's 
suggestion,  the  latter  was  again  chosen,  with  Hahn  for  his 
colleague.  These  appointments  were  intended  to  fill  vacancies 
caused  by  the  withdrawal,  February  5,  1861,  of  John  Slidell 
and  Judah  P.  Benjamin. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  lower  House  was  the  selection 
of  a  committee  to  consider  a  resolution  which  provided  for 
assembling  a  convention  to  draft  a  State  constitution.  For 
reasons  already  assigned  the  majority  report  of  this  com 
mittee  recommended  the  calling  of  a  convention  and  coun 
selled  the  Governor  to  order  an  election  in  which  the  question 
could  be  voted  on  by  the  people.  The  minority  recognized  the 
constitution  of  1864  as  binding,  and  on  the  ground  of  public 
economy  preferred  its  amendment,  especially  as  it  had  already 
acted  favorably  on  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  adoption  of 
the  Thirteenth  Amendment  and  the  repeal  of  the  ordinance 
of  secession  were  mentioned  by  them  as  conditions  essential 
to  the  recognition  of  Louisiana  as  a  State  and  as  indis 
pensable  to  a  restoration  of  all  the  privileges  which  that  con 
dition  implied. 

As  early  as  February  17  preceding  the  Legislature  estab 
lished  under  the  constitution  of  1864  had  ratified  the  Thir 
teenth  Article  amending  the  Constitution.  By  a  vote  of  two 
to  one  the  Assembly  again  approved  that  action.  The  session 
came  to  an  end  on  the  22d  of  December. 

This  commonwealth,  a  veritable  Eden  when  the  strife 
began,  had  been  sadly  changed  in  its  progress.  A  generous 
Government,  indeed,  by  repairing  the  levees  protected  her 
fairest  parishes  from  inundation.  The  same  beneficent  au 
thority  maintained  many  public  institutions  of  charity  that 
must  else  have  ceased  their  noble  work.  Distress  and  want 
had  already  invaded  that  once  prosperous  community,  and  in 
the  city  of  New  Orleans  alone  16,000  persons  were  dependent 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  425 

upon  and  maintained  by  Federal  bounty.  Silence  reigned  in 
the  great  cotton  market  of  the  world.  The  wreck  of  her 
public  finances  has  elsewhere  been  described.  Her  opulent 
commerce  had  been  destroyed,  agriculture  everywhere  lan 
guished.  Plantations  that  but  lately  teemed  with  rich  har 
vests  showed  the  effects  of  interrupted  cultivation,  and  the 
mighty  river  that  had  annually  poured  into  her  metropolis 
the  productions  of  a  dozen  States  now  flowed  untroubled  to 
the  Gulf. 

To  show  the  attitude  of  Congress  toward  the  Alexandria 
government  events  in  Virginia  have  in  part  been  anticipated. 
The  Legislature  of  the  loyal  portion  of  that  Commonwealth 
was  composed  of  members  from  only  ten  counties  and  parts 
of  other  counties.  It  was  by  delegates  from  this  restricted 
area  that  the  constitution  of  1864  was  framed  and  adopted. 

By  this  instrument  the  elective  franchise  was  confined  to 
male  whites  that  had  attained  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
who  had  resided  twelve  months  in  the  State  and  were  willing 
to  swear  support  of  the  Federal  Constitution  and  the  restored 
government;  but  officials  and  voters  were  required  in  addi 
tion  to  make  oath,  or  affirmation,  that  they  had  not,  since 
January  i,  1864,  voluntarily  given  aid  or  assistance  to  those 
in  rebellion  against  the  General  Government.  The  Assembly, 
however,  was  empowered,  when  it  was  deemed  safe  to  do 
so,  to  restore  to  citizenship  all  who  would  be  disfranchised 
by  this  provision  of  the  organic  law. 

Involuntary  servitude  was  also  abolished.  While  great 
numbers  of  negroes  were  thus  set  at  liberty,  nothing  was 
then  done  to  elevate  them  to  the  dignity  of  citizens.  The 
question  of  making  them  voters  was,  of  course,  still  more  re 
mote. 

The  General  Assembly  was  prohibited  from  making  pro 
vision  for  the  payment  of  any  debt  or  obligation  created  in 
the  name  of  the  Commonwealth  by  the  pretended  State  au- 


4i6    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

thorities  at  Richmond;  and  it  was  also  forbidden  to  permit  any 
county,  city  or  corporation  to  levy  or  collect  taxes  for  the 
discharge  of  any  debt  incurred  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  any 
rebellion  against  the  State  or  the  United  States,  or  to  pro 
vide  for  the  payment  of  any  bonds  held  by  rebels  in  arms.1 

The  Confederate  capital,  long  deemed  impregnable,  fell 
on  the  2d  of  April.  Within  a  week  came  tidings  of  the 
surrender  of  Lee's  entire  army,  greatly  reduced  in  numbers, 
it  is  true,  but  hitherto  the  main  reliance  of  the  Confederacy. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  apparently,  was  not  altogether  without  expecta 
tion  of  some  such  fortunate  outcome  of  the  extensive  prepara 
tions  that  had  been  made  for  ensuring  the  success  of  the  final 
campaign,  and  on  the  following  day,  April  10,  1865,  he  sent 
from  Washington  to  the  executive  head  of  the  restored  State 
this  telegram : 

GOVERNOR  PIERPONT,  Alexandria,  Virginia: 
Please  come  up  and  see  me  at  once.2 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Mr.  Pierpont,  as  the  writer  has  been  credibly  informed, 
called  by  request  on  President  Lincoln  during  the  week  of 
his  assassination,  evidently  in  response  to  this  telegram,  when 
they  spent  three  hours  together  in  conversation.  No  third 
party  appears  to  have  been  present  at  their  consultation.  The 
topic  discussed  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine.  Shortly  before 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  March,  1899,  Governor  Pier 
pont  informed  his  daughter  that  he  never  believed  Andrew 
Johnson  carried  out  Mr.  Lincoln's  idea  in  the  reconstruction 
of  Virginia.3  That  policy,  however,  had  not  then,  April  10, 
assumed  definitive  form  in  the  mind  of  the  President  him 
self,  for  he  expressly  stated  to  Mr.  Pierpont  that  he  had  no 
plan  for  reorganization,  but  must  be  guided  by  events.  His 

1  Poore's  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vol.  II.  p.  1938  et  seq. 
'  Letters  and  State  Papers  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  II.  p.  670. 
'Letter  of  Mrs.  Anna  Pierpont  Siviter  to  the  author. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  427 

last  public  utterance  establishes  the  correctness  of  this  state 
ment. 

Four  weeks  later  President  Johnson  by  executive  order 
recognized  the  Alexandria  establishment,  and  toward  the 
close  of  the  same  month,  May  26,  1865,  Mr.  Pierpont,  with 
other  members  of  his  government,  arrived  in  Richmond. 
The  sneer  of  Thaddeus  Stevens  that  the  archives  and  prop 
erty  of  loyal  Virginia  were  conveyed  to  the  new  capital  in 
an  ambulance  affords  at  least  an  adequate  idea  of  the  feeble 
condition  of  the  restored  State.  But  notwithstanding  the 
absence  of  all  pomp  and  his  lack  of  the  usual  emblems  of 
authority  the  Governor,  we  are  told,  was  received  in  a  very 
flattering  manner. 

Virginia,  which  emerged  from  the  struggle  crippled  by  the 
loss  of  an  important  part  of  her  domain,  suffered  more  in 
the  destruction  of  the  elements  of  wealth  than  any  of  her 
errant  sisters,  and  though  entering  somewhat  reluctantly  on 
a  career  of  rebellion,  she  was  the  only  member  of  the  Con 
federacy  that  was  permanently  weakened.  Industry  could 
never  repair  the  alienation  of  her  territory.  While  it  may 
appear  that  the  General  Government  acted  harshly  toward 
a  State  to  which  the  Union  owed  so  much,  the  preceding 
pages  show  clearly  that  the  loss  of  her  trans- Alleghany  coun 
ties  was  due  chiefly  to  an  unwise  administration  of  her  in 
ternal  affairs.  Notwithstanding  the  statement  of  Mr.  Elaine, 
the  writer  does  not  think  that  Virginia  was  singled  out  for 
punishment.  But  even  apart  from  her  dismemberment  the 
ravages  of  war  fell  most  heavily  on  the  Old  Dominion. 
There  it  was  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  the  Army 
of  Northern1  Virginia  contended  longest  for  supremacy. 
Troops  in  their  marches  and  countermarches  foraged  liber 
ally  on  her  people,  sometimes  without  distinction  of  friend 
or  foe.  Concrete  illustrations  will  occur  to  every  reader  ac 
quainted  with  the  military  history  of  the  great  conflict. 


428    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  devastation  of  the  Shenandoah  valley  was  only  a  strik 
ing  example  of  what  was  constantly  occurring  within  more 
restricted  areas  of  the  State.  Barns  and  dwelling  houses, 
fences  and  crops  perished  in  the  universal  destruction.  Cattle 
were  either  killed  or  carried  off,  and  even  the  implements  of 
husbandry  were  frequently  devoted  to  the  flames.  The  in 
jury  thus  sustained  by  agricultural  interests  was  followed  in 
many  districts  by  an  alarming  scarcity  of  food  during  the 
ensuing  years,  and  to  escape  starvation  numbers  of  her  citizens 
fled  from  once  happy  homes.  Newspaper  correspondents  in 
their  progress  through  the  State  describe  scenes  of  wretched 
ness  and  distress.  In  exploring  for  their  journals  wide  regions 
that  had  recently  been  the  theatre  of  war  they  witnessed 
spectacles  of  want,  hunger  and  despair.  Uncultivated  tracts 
in  the  wake  of  the  armies  contributed  to  heighten  the  picture 
of  desolation.  Richmond,  the  centre  of  so  many  interesting 
historical  associations,  though  long  exempt  from  pillage, 
perished  ultimately  in  a  conflagration.  In  short,  nearly  every 
landmark  of  prosperity  was  effaced  by  the  calamities  of  war. 
To  repair  these  ravages,  to  repeople  these  solitudes,  to 
revive  commerce  and  agriculture,  to  restore  tranquillity  and 
maintain  order  was  the  stupendous  task  before  Governor  Pier- 
pont,  in  whose  public  career  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  second 
stage.  After  the  formation  of  West  Virginia,  in  which  he 
had  acted  a  conspicuous  and  honorable  part,  and  one  that 
can  scarcely  be  overrated,  his  exertions  barely  sufficed  to  pre 
serve  the  continuity  of  a  loyal  government  in  his  native  State. 
In  the  former  undertaking  he  had  the  cooperation  of  nearly 
every  person  of  consideration  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  His 
efforts  in  Richmond,  however,  received  but  indifferent  sup 
port.  Whites  of  little  influence  and  negroes  who  were  still 
but  prospective  citizens  made  up  the  greater  number  of  his 
adherents.  A  handful  of  secessionists,  it  is  true,  set  the  ex 
ample  of  obedience  to  the  laws,  though  they  found  among 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  429 

their  late  associates  but  few  imitators.  It  was  from  such  ma 
terial  and  in  such  circumstances  that  Mr.  Pierpont  was  to 
reconstruct  the  grand  old  Commonwealth.  The  Governor, 
however,  applied  himself  at  once  to  the  duties  imposed  by  his 
office.  He  appointed  persons  to  reorganize  the  various  counties 
by  holding  elections  for  local  officers,  though  in  numerous 
instances  he  merely  authorized  to  act  for  the  preservation  of 
peace  those  citizens  whom  the  military  officers  might  select. 
The  difficulties  of  the  situation  were  such  that  he  summoned 
the  Legislature  to  meet  in  special  session  at  Richmond  on  the 
2Oth  of  June. 

In  response  to  this  request  the  lawmaking  body  assembled 
at  the  appointed  time.  The  Executive  message  on  that  oc 
casion  related  concisely  what  had  been  done  by  the  restored 
government  subsequent  to  June,  1861.  It  also  stated  that 
since  his  arrival  at  the  capital  the  Governor  had  conversed 
with  intelligent  men  of  every  shade  of  political  opinion  and 
representing  every  part  of  Virginia.  He  was  convinced,  he 
said,  that  if  the  test  of  loyalty  prescribed  by  their  constitu 
tion  was  enforced  in  the  election  and  qualification  of  officers, 
it  would  render  organization  impracticable  in  most  of  the 
counties.  It  was  folly  to  suppose  that  a  State  could  be  ad 
ministered  "  under  a  republican  form  of  government  where  in 
a  large  portion  of  the  State,  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  people 
are  disfranchised  and  cannot  hold  office.  But,  fortunately, 
by  the  terms  of  the  constitution,  the  General  Assembly  has 
control  of  this  subject.  The  restricting  clauses  of  the  con 
stitution  were  devised  in  time  of  war.  .  .  .  Men  accept 
the  facts  developed  by  the  logic  of  the  past  four  years,  de 
clare  that  they  have  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  without  mental  reservation,  and 
intend  to  be,  and  remain,  loyal  to  the  Government  of  their 
fathers.  It  would  not  be  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  that 
noble  Anglo-Saxon  race,  from  which  we  boast  our  common 


430    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

origin,  to  strike  a  fallen  brother,  or  impose  upon  him  humili 
ating  terms  after  a  fair  surrender."  1 

For  the  oath  required  by  the  State  constitution  he  sug 
gested  the  substitution  of  that  prescribed  by  the  President,  or 
one  of  similar  character;  he  also  recommended  the  passage 
of  an  act  to  legalize  marriage  between  persons  of  color,  and 
the  appointment  of  a  day  for  holding  elections  of  Representa 
tives  to  Congress  and  for  members  of  the  Legislature  in  those 
counties  where  none  had  been  chosen. 

The  subject  of  disfranchisement  was  immediately  taken  up 
in  both  Houses,  and  the  result  of  their  action  was  to  allow 
the  suffrage  to  those  who,  upon  taking  the  amnesty  oath,  had 
not  held  office  under  the  Confederacy  or  its  State  govern 
ments.  Those  who  had  done  so  could  neither  vote  nor  hold 
office.  The  Legislature  submitted  to  the  people,  to  be  de 
termined  at  the  election  in  October  succeeding,  the  question 
of  removing  this  restriction  upon  officeholders. 

This  action  of  the  Assembly  was  followed  by  the  appear 
ance  of  a  large  number  of  competitors  for  office,  and  con 
siderable  interest  was  awakened.  Finding,,  however,  that 
they  would  be  unable  to  take  the  oath  required  by  Congress 
many  of  the  candidates  for  the  national  Legislature  withdrew. 
The  President  was  asked  by  some  citizens  of  Albemarle 
County  whether,  in  his  opinion,  Congress  would  probably 
insist  upon  the  oath.  The  following  reply  to  their  inquiry 
was  made  by  Attorney-General  Speed : 

The  President  has  referred  to  me  your  letter,  dated  Charlottesville, 
Virginia,  September,  1865,  and  I  am  instructed  by  him  to  say  that  he 
has  no  more  means  of  knowing  what  Congress  may  do  in  regard  to  the 
oath  about  which  you  inquire  than  any  other  citizen.  It  is  his  earnest 
wish  that  loyal  and  true  men,  to  whom  no  objections  can  be  made,  should 
be  elected  to*  Congress. 

This  is  not  an  official  letter,  but  a  simple  expression  of  individual 
opinion  and  wish." 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  817.    '  Ibid. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  431 

The  election  was  held  on  October  12,  the  vote  polled  being 
the  smallest  ever  given  in  the  history  of  the  State.  In  the 
first  eight  Congressional  districts,  however,  it  exceeded 
40,000.  The  constitutional  amendment  met  with  very  little 
opposition,  many  counties  voting  unanimously  to  remove  the 
restriction  upon  the  suffrage.1  The  Assembly  then  chosen 
convened  at  Richmond  on  December  4,  1865,  the  time  fixed 
for  the  meeting  of  Congress. 

While  it  is  true  that  there  were  grounds  for  apprehension 
regarding  the  stability  of  the  new  governments  instituted  in 
these  four  States,  the  principal  cause  of  anxiety  to  the  Ad 
ministration  was  the  disorganized  political  and  social  condi 
tion  of  the  remaining  members  of  the  late  Confederacy.  It 
was  universally  agreed  that  with  the  destruction  of  its  mili 
tary  power  the  authority  of  that  government  was  completely 
extinguished.  From  that  moment  until  the  revival  within 
them  of  Federal  laws  these  commonwealths  were  destitute  of 
all  legislation  of  a  general  character.  Under  our  dual  prin 
ciple  of  government,  however,  this  could  be  endured  tempo 
rarily.  But  the  absence  of  a  central  organism  would  soon  be 
evident  in  the  reappearance  of  those  alarming  symptoms  which 
marked  American  political  and  industrial  life  in  the  critical 
period  between  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  in  1783,  and  the  in 
auguration,  nearly  six  years  later,  of  the  present  national  sys 
tem.  In  that  unhappy  interval,  however,  the  authority  of  the 
various  States  was  ample  for  the  regulation  of  domestic  affairs, 
while  in  the  deranged  and  confused  times  succeeding  the  Re 
bellion  seven  entire  commonwealths  were  left  without  any 
general  or  any  particular  government.  Their  territory,  in 
deed,  had  passed  under  control  of  the  Union  forces,  for  when 
the  Administration  of  Jefferson  Davis  was  overthrown  the 
disloyal  State  establishments,  of  which  it  was  only  an  ema 
nation,  fell  likewise.  Though  internal  progress  was  not  seri- 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  817. 


432    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

ously  to  be  expected  in  this  situation,  tolerable  order  was  pre 
served  by  Federal  soldiers,  who  occupied  the  entire  region 
between  the  Potomac  and  the  Rio  Grande,  for  even  in  those 
States  reorganized  under  Executive  auspices  civil  authority 
was  not  yet  established  on  a  foundation  sufficiently  secure  to 
maintain  itself  without  assistance  from  the  military  power 
of  the  nation. 

Besides  the  absence  of  all  civil  government  there  were  other 
elements  of  discord  that  tended  to  increase  the  confusion  in 
these  States.  Their  population,  it  need  scarcely  be  observed, 
was  not  homogeneous.  The  decree  of  emancipation  together 
with  the  incidents  of  war  had  brought  freedom  to  almost 
the  entire  slave  population  of  the  South.  This  was  soon  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  proposed  constitutional  amendment,  which 
was  designed  both  to  place  beyond  question  the  status  of  freed- 
men  and  to  strike  the  shackles  from  the  limbs  of  the  last 
bondman  in  the  loyal  as  well  as  in  the  disloyal  States.  About 
the  middle  of  December  nearly  4,000,000  negroes  bereft  of 
the  hand  that  bestowed  their  daily  sustenance  found  them 
selves  suddenly  dependent  for  support  upon  their  own  exer 
tions.  The  General  Government,  it  is  true,  by  creating  the 
Bureau  of  Freedmen  and  Refugees,  diminished  considerably 
the  danger  from  this  source,  though  this  relief  by  no  means 
solved  the  problem  of  transforming  the  recent  slave  into  a 
useful  member  of  society;  besides,  the  bureau  itself  subse 
quently  degenerated  into  a  fruitful  source  of  abuse. 

Nor  were  Southern  whites  by  any  means  unanimous  as  to 
the  best  policy  to  adopt  in  the  circumstances  in  which  an  un 
successful  rebellion  had  placed  them.  Between  Union  men 
and  secessionists  there  existed  a  feeling  of  extreme  bitterness. 
Even  among  members  of  the  latter  class  there  was  consider 
able  difference  of  opinion,  as  in  North  Carolina,  where  the 
former  Whigs,  by  the  moderation  of  their  views  as  much  as 
by  constantly  agitating  the  question  of  reconstruction,  had 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  433 

somewhat  embarrassed  the  Richmond  authorities  while  war 
was  still  flagrant.  Add  to  these  causes  of  disorder  the  discon 
tent  of  thousands  of  disbanded  soldiers  who  returned  in  the 
gloom  of  defeat  not  infrequently  to  ruined  homes  and  wasted 
fields.  Then,  too,  there  was  the  disappointment  and  humilia 
tion  naturally  felt  by  a  brave  and  impulsive  people  who  had 
fought  gallantly  in  support  of  a  cause  condemned,  indeed,  by 
the  civilized  world,  but  believed  by  them  to  be  not  only  just 
but  indispensable  to  their  prosperity  and  happiness. 

Though  a  volume  could  be  profitably  employed  in  describ 
ing,  town  by  town  and  county  by  county,  the  extent  of  destruc 
tion  inflicted  on  the  South,  a  few  brief  paragraphs  must  suffice 
to  suggest  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  enormous  loss  of  wealth 
sustained  by  that  section.  The  wreck  of  four  members  of* 
the  Confederacy  has  been  noticed  in  the  preceding  pages.  That 
rapid  sketch,  however,  took  no  account  of  the  damage  to  in 
dividuals  by  the  liberation  of  their  slaves,  for,  except  in  those 
instances  where  negroes  left  the  commonwealth,  that  was 
not  in  any  sense  a  loss  to  the  State.  If  it  were,  a  community, 
by  reducing  to  servitude  a  part  of  its  inhabitants,  could  at 
any  time  increase  the  amount  of  its  capital.  It  is  only  from 
the  slaveholder's  point  of  view,  therefore,  that  emancipation 
can  be  regarded  as  a  pecuniary  loss.  Immense  damage  was 
sustained  by  both  North  and  South  in  the  withdrawal  of  mil 
lions  of  men  from  the  various  fields  of  production.  The  energy 
of  these  multitudes,  which  was  rapidly  making  the  United 
States  the  most  opulent  and  powerful  nation  on  the  globe, 
had  exerted  itself  for  four  years  in  the  destruction  of  former 
accumulations. 

Almost  at  the  moment  that  the  star  of  the  Confederacy  had 
begun  to  decline  the  imperial  State  of  Georgia,  hitherto  ex 
empt  from  punishment,  was  wasted  by  fire  and  sword.  Some 
times  the  Southern,  sometimes  the  Northern  army  stripped  the 
country  of  everything  capable  of  supporting  life.  Crops  had 


434    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

been  harvested,  indeed,  but  this  served  only  to  facilitate  their 
destruction.  In  the  retreat  of  Johnston  and  the  advance  of 
Sherman  toward  Atlanta  highways  had  been  injured,  bridges 
burned  and  many  lines  of  railroad  completely  destroyed. 
Dwellings,  when  they  interfered  wfth  military  operations, 
were  levelled  by  even  the  Confederate  army,  and  the  Union 
forces  could  not  be  expected  to  show  greater  consideration 
for  the  property  of  public  enemies.  General  Hood  not  only 
wasted  the  vast  stores  accumulated  in  Atlanta  but  burned 
habitations  when  they  stood  in  the  way  of  his  fortifications. 
Though  winter  was  rapidly  approaching,  the  Federal  com 
mander  deemed  it  necessary  after  the  capture  of  that  strong 
hold  to  expel  from  their  abodes  a  considerable  part  of  its 
population.  A  brief  truce,  it  is  true,  enabled  the  miserable 
inhabitants  to  remove  a  part  of  their  effects  farther  south; 
thousands,  outcasts  from  their  ruined  homes,  were  thus  driven 
to  wander  among  strangers  whose  bounty  had  already  been 
taxed  by  earlier  fugitives;  both  classes  were  dependent  for 
their  maintenance  on  the  precarious  charity  of  an  impover 
ished  people.  Crowded  dwellings  forced  great  numbers  in  the 
inclement  weather  to  seek  shelter  in  the  neighboring  forests. 
where  they  found  a  safe  refuge,  indeed,  but  a  scanty  subsist 
ence.  Over  the  region  traversed  by  Sherman  and  Johnston 
the  forces  of  Hood  soon  after  traced  a  devastating  march 
northward  to  Dalton.  The  mischiefs  of  the  great  march  to 
Savannah  have  frequently  been  described.  Its  beginning  was 
announced  by  the  blaze  of  burning  buildings,  and  when  the 
last  of  the  Federal  soldiers  had  set  their  faces  toward  the 
sea  the  city  of  Atlanta  was  little  more  than  a  mass  of  smok 
ing  ruins.  Though  the  region  traversed  was  probably  the 
richest  in  the  State,  extensive  misery  accompanied  the  prog 
ress  of  the  army.  The  meat  and  the  vegetables  needed  for 
his  command  were  taken  by  the  Union  General.  Horses, 
mules  and  wagons  were  freely  appropriated;  slaves  also  were 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  435 

assisted  to  escape  from  their  masters.  Mills  and  cotton-gins 
were  frequently  devoted  to  the  flames.  In  Milledgeville 
factories,  storehouses  and  public  buildings  were  destroyed. 
The  principal  edifices  of  Macon  perished  about  the  same  time. 
Indeed,  Augusta  was  the  only  considerable  place  in  the  State 
that  escaped  serious  harm.  The  people  in  northwestern 
Georgia  were  in  the  utmost  destitution,  large  families  being 
frequently  for  whole  days  without  food;  venerable  persons  of 
both  sexes,  sinking  under  the  weight  of  years  and  infirmities, 
often  walked  fifteen  and  even  twenty  miles  to  procure  food 
enough  to  prevent  starvation.  The  injury  to  all  the  usual 
means  of  transportation  greatly  increased  the  difficulty  of 
bringing  relief.  When  the  conflict  had  ended,  however, 
Federal  officers  did  what  they  could  to  alleviate  the  almost 
universal  distress,  and  their  magnanimity  was  not  without 
influence  on  the  future  conduct  of  many  an  ex-Confederate 
veteran. 

South  Carolina,  the  fatal*  State  that  woke  the  sword  of 
war,  did  not  suffer  greatly  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  con 
flict,  though  even  then  her  foreign  commerce  was  extinguished 
and  her  agriculture  interrupted  along  the  coast.  Before  its 
close,  however,  she  was  destined  to  experience  most  of  its 
horrors.  A  restless  generation  of  agitators  had  assiduously 
inculcated  the  notion  that  the  South  was  ruthlessly  oppressed 
by  Yankee  avarice.  This  teaching  bore  fruit,  and  the  people 
of  South  Carolina,  coming  to  regard  themselves  as  little 
better  than  tributary  slaves,  were  easily  persuaded  to  resort 
to  the  wager  of  battle.  With  the  progress  of  the  contest 
this  proud  State  was  growing  weaker  within,  hostile  pressure 
was  constantly  increasing  from  without.  Time  at  length  and 
the  fortunes  of  war  had  brought  round  their  revenge,  and 
when  the  veterans  of  Sherman  turned  northward  from  Sa 
vannah  the  Palmetto  State  was  powerless  to  prevent,  or  seri 
ously  to  retard,  their  advance.  Transportation  was  greatly 


436    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

embarrassed  by  the  destruction  of  the  bridges  as  well  as  the 
tracks  of  almost  every  important  railway  within  the  State. 
Immense  quantities  of  cotton  and  numbers  of  cotton  ware 
houses,  uncounted  dwellings  and  depots,  machine  shops  and 
foundries,  as  well  as  several  sailing  vessels  and  steamboats 
were  consumed  by  flames.  Besides  these  blackened  memorial's 
of  disaster  and  defeat,  the  stately  cities  of  Charleston  and 
Columbia  were  almost  simultaneously  laid  in  ruins  by  great 
conflagrations.  The  inability  of  the  civil  authorities  to  fur 
nish  food  for  his  army  constrained  General  Sherman  to  forage 
for  supplies.  In  this  manner  all  the  cattle,  hogs,  sheep  and 
poultry,  even  the  little  stores  of  meal,  treasured  as  the  last 
barrier  against  want,  were  consumed,  and  the  people  left  en 
tirely  without  subsistence.  To  prevent  general  starvation  the 
Confederate  commander  was  compelled  to  distribute  the 
rations  of  his  soldiers  among  the  wretched  inhabitants.  From 
various  causes  many  ancient  and  wealthy  families  found  them 
selves  suddenly  reduced  to  a  condition  of  beggary,  and  so 
low  was  the  condition  of  the  public  treasury  that  the  Legisla 
ture  as  early  as  the  mid-summer  of  1865  had  already  begun 
seriously  to  discuss  the  question  of  repudiation. 

With  some  slight  alterations  this  picture  of  South  Caro 
lina's  ills  will  serve  for  that  of  her  northern  and  more  de 
serving  sister,  so  far  at  least  as  concerns  those  parts  overrun 
by  the  contending  hosts.  The  cessation  of  hostilities  stopped 
the  carnival  of  death  and  silenced  the  engines  of  destruction 
before  half  of  North  Carolina's  territory  had  been  crossed. 
From  the  first  years  of  the  war  there  were  numerous  instances 
of  privation  among  the  loyalists  of  that  State.  Toward  its 
close  the  more  favored  classes  also  began  to  feel  the  pressure 
of  want.  The  negroes  required  and  received  assistance  from 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  The  whites,  refugees  as  well  as  se 
cessionists,  were  aided  by  the  commanders  of  the  rival  forces. 

Florida,  fortunately  for  her  people,  was  so  remote  from 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  437 

the  principal  scenes  of  war  that  she  felt  few  of  its  evils. 
Battles,  it  is  true,  occurred  within  the  State,  but  they  were  as 
skirmishes  compared  to  the  bloody  engagements  which  took 
place  elsewhere.  The  same  observations  are  substantially  true 
of  Texas.  A  fringe  of  Mississippi's  territory,  too,  had  been 
swept  by  the  furnace-blast  of  war.  The  extensive  movements 
around  Corinth,  luka,  Vicksburg,  Jackson  and  Port  Hudson 
will  suggest  the  extent  of  destruction  that  visited  the  northern 
half  of  that  State.  There  existed  considerable  privation  in 
that  section,  though  no  general  distress  as  in  other  members 
of  the  Confederacy. 

All  the  Gulf  States,  however,  were  not  equally  fortunate. 
Though  long  impending,  the  fate  of  Alabama  came  swiftly. 
Almost  in  the  same  hour  she  was  invaded  from  the  north  and 
menaced  from  the  south.  A  large  portion  of  her  material 
resources  was  already  exhausted  when  the  cavalry  raids  of 
General  Wilson  spread  terror  and  devastation  through  the 
interior  counties.  The  city  of  Selma  was  laid  in  ashes ;  smaller 
towns  and  villages  were  likewise  consumed  by  flames ;  schools 
and  colleges,  private  buildings  and  public  edifices  perished  in 
the  universal  wreck.  Monuments  of  ruin  were  everywhere 
conspicuous  throughout  a  region  the  most  productive,  prob 
ably,  in  all  the  South.  Silence  and  desolation  reigned  where 
but  lately  stood  proud  and  hospitable  mansions.  Nor  was 
the  destruction  of  wealth  or  its  elements  the  only  injury 
sustained,  for  industry  would  soon  repair  the  losses  of  capi 
tal.  Labor  itself  had  been  severely  crippled.  Of  the  army 
of  122,000  soldiers  which  Alabama  furnished  to  the  cause 
of  secession  35,000,  it  was  estimated,  had  been  left  on  the 
field  of  battle,  and  at  least  an  equal  number  had  been  disabled 
for  life.  Mobile,  enriched  by  the  cotton  trade,  was  silent  as 
some  ancient  necropolis.  Her  splendid  commerce  was  ruined; 
her  stately  ships  were  gone,  and  the  wave  broke  unheeded  on 
the  shores  of  her  deserted  harbor. 


438    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

This  hurried  summary  conveys  only  a  very  inadequate 
notion  of  the  complex  problem  which  Mr.  Johnson  was  forced 
to  consider.  His  arduous  duty  was  to  repair  the  ravages  of 
military  violence,  to  evoke  order  from  the  discord  of  civil 
strife,  to  heal  the  wounds  which  the  imperious  power  of  sla 
very  had  inflicted  upon  industries  and  institutions;  in  a  word, 
to  restore  the  harmony  of  that  Republic  founded  by  the  wis 
dom  of  Washington  and  preserved  by  the  policy  of  Lincoln. 
The  sentiments  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  who  was  about  to 
attempt  this  difficult  but  indispensable  task  it  is  now  time  to 
consider.  His  deliberate  conclusions  and  his  spontaneous  ut 
terances  are  best  examined,  it  is  believed,  in  something  like 
chronological  order. 

On  June  9,  1864,  almost  a  year  before  his  accession  to 
the  Presidency,  he  had  said  in  addressing  the  people  of 
Nashville : 

But  in  calling  a  convention  to  restore  the  State,  who  shall  restore  and 
reestablish  it?  .  .  .  Shall  he  who  brought  this  misery  upon  the  State 
be  permitted  to  control  its  destinies?  If  this  be  so,  then  all  this  precious 
blood  of  our  brave  soldiers  and  officers  so  freely  poured  out  will  have 
been  wantonly  spilled.  .  .  . 

Why  all  this  carnage  and  devastation?  It  was  that  treason  might  be 
put  down  and  traitors  punished.  Therefore  I  say  that  traitors  should 
take  a  back  seat  in  the  work  of  restoration.  If  there  be  but  five  thousand 
men  in  Tennessee  loyal  to  the  Constitution,  loyal  to  freedom,  loyal  to 
justice,  these  true  and  faithful  men  should  control  the  work  of  reorgani 
zation  and  reformation  absolutely.  I  say  that  the  traitor  has  ceased  to 
be  a  citizen,  and  in  joining  the  rebellion  has  become  a  public  enemy.  He 
forfeited  his  right  to  vote  with  loyal  men  when  he  renounced  his  citizen 
ship  and  sought  to  destroy  our  Government.  .  .  .  If  we  are  so  cau 
tious  about  foreigners  who  voluntarily  renounce  their  homes  to  live  with 
us  what  should  we  say  to  the  traitor,  who,  although  born  and  reared 
among  us,  has  raised  a  parricidal  hand  against  the  Government  which 
always  protected  him?  My  judgment  is  that  he  should  be  subjected  to 
a  severe  ordeal  before  he  is  restored  to  citizenship.  .  .  .  Before  these 
repenting  rebels  can  be  trusted,  let  them  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  repent- 
ance.  .  .  .  Treason  must  be  made  odious,  and  traitors  must  be  pun 
ished  and  impoverished.  Their  great  plantations  must  be  seized,  and 
divided  into  small  farms,  and  sold  to  honest,  industrious  men.  The  day 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  439 

for  protecting  the  lands  and  negroes  of  these  authors  of  the  rebellion  is 
past.     It  is  high  time  it  was.1 

Though  he  had  never  been  accustomed  to  conceal  his 
opinions  on  questions  of  public  interest,  and  though  there  was 
no  reason  for  supposing  that  his  views  on  reorganization  had 
changed  in  the  months  intervening  between  the  Nashville 
speech  and  his  inauguration,  there  was  considerable  curiosity, 
if  not  indeed  impatience,  to  learn  his  sentiments  on  the  para 
mount  issue  before  the  nation.  Even  the  unparalleled  excite 
ment  and  profound  regret  occasioned  by  the  assassination  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  make  men  forget  the  grave  questions 
which  the  changed  conditions  of  the  Union  presented  for  the 
consideration  of  statesmen.  Therefore  the  brief  remarks  ad 
dressed  by  the  new  Executive  to  those  who  were  present  at  his 
inauguration  were  eagerly  scrutinized  for  some  indication  of 
the  principles  which  he  was  likely  to  adopt  in  the  conduct 
of  his  Administration.  The  absence,  however,  of  even  a  hint 
on  that  interesting  subject  gave  universal  disappointment,  and 
anxious  patriots  were  not  reassured  by  his  failure  to  announce 
any  expression  of  a  purpose  to  continue  the  policy  of  his  prede 
cessor.  By  his  intimate  friends  this  omission  was  construed 
as  an  intention  to  pursue  in  dealing  with  the  South  a  less 
generous  course  than,  it  was  believed,  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
marked  out. 

Among  the  more  extreme  "  Radicals  "  this  surmise  occa 
sioned  little  regret,  for  they  did  not  object  to  the  accession  of 
an  Executive  made,  as  they  believed,  of  sterner  stuff  than  the 
late  incumbent.  From  his  fierce  denunciation  of  secessionists 
both  while  military  governor  of  Tennessee  and  subsequently, 
it  was  generally  understood  that  more  stringent  methods 
would  be  adopted  by  Mr.  Johnson  than  had  hitherto  been  em 
ployed.  Among  other  things  he  said  in  his  inaugural :  "  As 
to  an  indication  of  any  policy  which  may  be  pursued  by  me 

1  McPherson's  Hand-Book  of  Politics,  1868,  p.  46. 


440    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

in  the  administration  of  the  Government,  I  have  to  say  that 
that  must  be  left  for  development,  as  the  administration  pro 
gresses.  The  message  or  declaration  must  be  made  by  the 
acts  as  they  transpire.  The  only  assurance  that  I  can  now 
give  of  the  future,  is  by  reference  to  the  past."  l 

Delegations  of  citizens  who  waited  uponjiim  to  tender 
their  cordial  support  were  assured  in  the  most  explicit  terms 
that  his  past  course  was  an  indication  of  what  his  future  policy 
would  be.  Three  days  after  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his 
office  a  deputation  of  distinguished  persons  called  on  Mr.  John 
son  under  circumstances  at  once  unusual  and  touching.  The 
remains  of  the  late  President  still  lay  in  the  White  House. 
Before  the  sad  procession  of  the  dead  left  the  national  Capital 
for  Springfield,  Governor  Oglesby,  with  other  gentlemen  from 
Illinois,  called  to  assure  the  new  Executive  of  their  respect 
and  confidence.  His  record,  they  declared,  gave  assurance  to 
their  State  that  in  his  hands  they  could  safely  trust  the  des 
tinies  of  the  Republic.  The  President  responded  in  a  speech 
discussing  a  far  wider  range  of  topics  than  he  had  treated  in 
his  inaugural.  Appropriate  reference  to  his  predecessor,  the 
tragical  close  of  whose  career  was  scarcely  alluded  to  in  his 
first  address,  was  made  in  this  more  extended  discourse.  He 
spoke  with  unaffected  and  profound  emotion.  "  The  beloved 
of  all  hearts  has  been  assassinated/'  said  he,  "  and  when  we 
trace  this  crime  to  its  cause,  when  we  remember  the  source 
whence  the  assassin  drew  his  inspiration,  and  then  look  at 
the  result,  we  stand  yet  more  astounded  at  this  most  barbar 
ous,  most  diabolical  act.  .  .  .  We  can  trace  its  cause 
through  successive  steps  back  to  that  source  which  is  the 
spring  of  all  our  woes.  No  one  can  say  that  if  the  perpetrator 
of  this  fiendish  deed  be  arrested,  he  should  not  undergo  the 
extremest  penalty  of  the  law  known  for  crime :  none  will  say 
that  mercy  should  interpose.  But  is  he  alone  guilty  ?  Here, 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  800. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  441 

gentlemen,  you  perhaps  expect  me  to  present  some  indication 
of  my  future  policy.  One  thing  I  will  say :  every  era  teaches 
its  lesson.  The  times  we  live  in  are  not  without  instruction. 
The  American  people  must  be  taught  —  if  they  do  not  already 
feel  —  that  treason  is  a  crime  and  must  be  punished.  .  .  . 
When  we  turn  to  the  criminal  code  we  find  arson  laid  down 
as  a  crime  with  its  appropriate  penalty.  We  find  theft  and 
murder  denounced  as  crimes,  and  their  appropriate  penalty 
prescribed;  and  there,  too,  we  find  the  last  and  highest  of 
crimes, —  treason.  .  .  .  Let  it  be  engraven  on  every 
mind  that  treason  is  a  crime,  and  traitors  shall  suffer  its  pen 
alty.  .  .  .  I  do  not  harbor  bitter  or  resentful  feelings 
towards  any.  .  .  .  When  the  question  of  exercising 
mercy  comes  before  me  it  will  be  considered  calmly,  judicially 
— -remembering  that  I  am  the  Executive  of  the  Nation.  I 
know. men  love  to  have  their  names  spoken  of  in  connection 
with  acts  of  mercy,  and  how  easy  it  is  to  yield  to  that  im 
pulse.  But  we  must  never  forget  that  what  may  be  mercy 
to  the  individual  is  cruelty  to  the  State." 

Commenting  on  this  speech  Mr.  Elaine,  from  whom  it  is 
quoted,  says  that  it  "  was  reported  by  an  accomplished  stenog 
rapher,  and  was  submitted  to  Mr.  Johnson's  inspection  be 
fore  publication.  It  contained  a  declaration  intimating  to  its 
hearers,  if  not  explicitly  assuring  them,  that t  the  policy  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  the  past  shall  be  my  policy  in  the  future.'  When 
in  reading  the  report  he  came  to  this  passage,  Mr.  Johnson 
queried  whether  his  words  had  not  been  in  some  degree  mis 
apprehended;  and  while  he  was  engaged  with  the  stenographer 
in  modifying  the  form  of  expression,  Mr.  Preston  King,  of 
New  York,  who  was  constantly  by  his  side  as  adviser,  inter 
posed  the  suggestion  that  all  reference  to  the  subject  be 
stricken  out.  To  this  Mr.  Johnson  promptly  assented.  He 
had  undoubtedly  gone  farther  than  he  intended  in  speaking 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  immediate  friends,  and  the  correction  —  in- 


442    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

spired  by  one  holding  the  radical  views  of  Mr.  King  —  was 
equivalent  to  a  declaration  that  the  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
been  more  conservative  than  that  which  he  intended  to  pur 


sue." 


To  a  deputation  of  New  Hampshire  citizens  he  said  in  part  : 
"  This  Government  is  now  passing  through  >a  fiery,  and,  let 
us  hope,  its  last  ordeal  —  one  that  will  test  its  powers  of  en 
durance,  and  will  determine  whether  it  can  do  what  its  enemies 
have  denied  —  suppress  and  punish  treason."  Though  he  had 
been  urged,  he  asserted,  by  friends  whose  good  opinion  he 
valued,  he  refrained  from  foreshadowing  in  a  public  mani 
festo  the  policy  which  would  guide  him.  He  further  observed 
on  this  occasion  :  "  I  know  it  is  easy,  gentlemen,  for  any  one 
who  is  so  disposed,  to  acquire  a  reputation  for  clemency  and 
mercy.  But  the  public  good  imperatively  requires  a  just  dis 
crimination  in  the  exercise  of  these  qualities.  .  .  .  To 
relieve  one  from  the  penalty  of  crime  may  be  productive  of 
national  disaster.  The  American  people  must  be  taught  to 
know  and  understand  that  treason  is  a  crime. 
Treason  is  a  crime,  and  must  be  punished  as  a  crime.  It 
must  not  be  regarded  as  a  mere  difference  of  political  opinion. 
It  must  not  be  excused  as  an  unsuccessful  rebellion,  to  be 
overlooked  and  forgiven-  It  is  a  crime  before  which  all 
others  sink  into  insignificance;  and  in  saying  this  it  must 
not  be  considered  that  I  am  influenced  by  angry  or  revengeful 
feelings."  He  added,  that  to  those  who  had  been  deluded 
and  deceived  by  designing  men,  to  those  who  had  been  only 
technically  guilty  of  treason,  he  would  accord  amnesty,  leni 
ency  and  mercy.  On  the  instigators  of  rebellion,  however, 
should  be  visited  "  the  full  penalty  of  their  crimes."  2 

Replying,  April  21,  to  an  address  of  Governor  Morton,  who 
introduced  a  delegation  from  Indiana,  he  said  :  "  Mine  has 

1  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II.  pp.  9-11. 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  800. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  443 

been  but  one  straight-forward  and  unswerving  course,  and  I 
see  no  reason  why  I  should  depart  from  it.  ... 

"  I  hold  it  as  a  solemn  obligation  in  any  one  of  these 
States  where  the  rebel  armies  have  been  driven  back  or  ex 
pelled  —  I  care  not  how  small  the  number  of  Union  men,  if 
enough  to  man  the  ship  of  State  —  I  hold  it,  I  say,  a  high 
duty  to  protect  and  secure  to  them  a  republican  form  of 
government.  This  is  no  new  opinion.  ...  In  adjust 
ing  and  putting  the  government  upon  its  legs  again,  I  think 
the  progress  of  this  work  must  pass  into  the  hands  of  its 
friends.  If  a  State  is  to  be  nursed  until  it  again  gets  strength, 
it  must  be  nursed  by  its  friends,  and  not  smothered  by  its 
enemies."1  To  this  delegation  he  declared  himself  not  less 
opposed  to  consolidation  than  to  dissolution  and  disintegra 
tion.  In  a  brief  reply  on  the  same  day  to  a  deputation  from 
Ohio  he  added  nothing  of  value  to  these  observations,  and  on 
the  24th  of  April  he  addressed  in  a  similar  strain  a  body  of 
exiles  from  the  South. 

"  The  colored  American  asks  but  two  things,"  said  the 
spokesman  of  a  negro  delegation  about  the  same  time, 
"  that  he  have,  first,  complete  emancipation,  and  secondly, 
full  equality  before  American  law."  To  this  the  Presi 
dent  replied,  among  other  things,  that  he  feared  leading 
colored  men  did  not  "  understand  and  appreciate  the  fact  that 
they  have  friends  on  the  south  side  of  the  line.  They  have, 
and  they  are  as  faithful  and  staunch  as  any  north  of  the  line. 
It  may  be  a  very  easy  thing,  indeed  popular,  to  be  an  eman 
cipationist  north  of  the  line,  but  a  very  different  thing  to  be 
such  south  of  it.  South  of  it,  it  costs  a  man  effort,  property, 
and  perhaps  life."  2 

Two  months  later,  June  24,  in  replying  to  an  address  of 
a  South  Carolina  committee,  he  said  in  part :  "  The  friction 

1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hand-Book,  1868,  pp.  45-46. 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  pp.  801-802. 


444    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  the  rebellion  has  rubbed  out  the  nature  and  character  of 
slavery.  The  loyal  men  who  were  compelled  to  bow  and  submit 
to  the  rebellion  should,  now  that  the  rebellion  is  ended,  stand 
equal  to  loyal  men  everywhere.  Hence  the  wish  of  recon 
struction,  and  the  trying  to  get  back  the  States  to  the  point 
at  which  they  formerly  moved  in  perfect  harmony."  He  re 
minded  them  that  as  an  institution  slavery  was  gone,  and  said 
there  was  no  hope  that  the  people  of  South  Carolina  would 
be  admitted  into  either  the  Senate  or  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  until  by  their  conduct  they  had  afforded  evidence  of 
this  truth.  In  their  circumstances  the  true  policy  was  to  re 
store  the  State  government,  not  through  military  rule,  but  by 
the  action  of  the  people.1 

Desiring  to  relieve  all  loyal  citizens  and  well-disposed  per 
sons  from  unnecessary  trade  restrictions,  and  to  encourage 
a  return  to  peaceful  pursuits,  the  President  removed,  April 
29,  1865,  the  interdict  on  all  domestic  and  coastwise  inter 
course  in  that  portion  of  the  late  Confederate  States  east  of 
the  Mississippi  and  within  the  lines  of  national  military  occu 
pation.  From  this  order,  however,  certain  named  articles 
contraband  of  war  were  excepted.  Military  and  naval  regu 
lations  in  conflict  with  his  proclamation  were  revoked.  On 
May  22  following  he  announced  that  ports  in  the  same  dis 
trict  would  be  reopened  to  foreign  commerce  after  July  i, 
1865,  though  certain  places  in  Texas  were  still  denied  this 
privilege. 

The  insurrection  hitherto  existing  in  Tennessee  was  de 
clared  at  an  end  on  June  13,  1865.  The  authority  of  the 
United  States,  this  Proclamation  asserted,  was  unquestioned 
within  the  limits  of  that  commonwealth,  and  duly  commis 
sioned  Federal  officials  were  in  undisturbed  exercise  of  their 
functions.  All  disabilities  attaching  to  the  State  and  its  in 
habitants  were  therefore  removed;  but  nothing  contained  in 

*Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  802. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  445 

the  order  was  to  be  construed  as  affecting  any  of  the  penalties 
and  forfeitures  for  treason  which  had  previously  been 
incurred. 

Ten  days  later,  June  23,  the  blockade  of  Galveston  and 
other  ports  beyond  the  Mississippi  was  rescinded.  These  were 
to  be  opened  to  foreign  trade  on  the  ist  of  July  succeeding. 
It  was  ordered,  August  29,  1865,  that  after  September  i  all 
restrictions  upon  internal,  domestic  and  coastwise  commerce 
be  removed,  so  that  even  articles  contraband  of  war  might  be 
imported  into  and  sold  in  the  late  insurgent  States,  the  neces 
sity  for  prohibiting  intercourse  in  those  articles  having  in 
great  measure  ceased. 

In  an  order  dated  May  9,  1865,  the  President  declared  null 
and  void  all  acts  and  proceedings  of  the  military  and  civil 
organizations  of  Virginia  which  had  been  in  rebellion  against 
the  General  Government;  also  that  all  persons  who  should 
exercise  or  attempt  to  exercise  any  authority,  jurisdiction  or 
right  under  Jefferson  Davis,  and  his  confederates,  or  under 
John  Letcher  or  William  Smith,1  and  their  confederates,  or 
any  pretended  commission  or  authority  issued  by  them,  or 
any  of  them,  since  April  17,  1861,  would  be  deemed  and  taken 
as  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  and  dealt  with  ac 
cordingly.  By  the  same  order  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  was  revived  within  the  geographical  limits  known  as 
Virginia,  and  the  heads  of  the  several  Executive  Departments 
were  instructed  to  enforce  therein  all  Federal  laws  the  ad 
ministration  of  which  belonged  to  their  respective  offices. 

To  carry  into  effect  the  constitutional  guaranty  of  a  repub 
lican  form  of  government  and  "  afford  the  advantage  and 
security  of  domestic  laws,  as  well  as  to  complete  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  the  authority  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  full  and  complete  restoration  of  peace  within  the  limits 
aforesaid,  Francis  H.  Pierpont,  Governor  of  the  State  of 
1  Letcher  and  Smith  were  Governors  of  Virginia  during  the  war. 


446    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Virginia,"  was  assured  of  such  assistance  from  the  Federal 
authorities  as  was  believed  necessary  in  any  lawful  measures 
that  he  might  adopt  for  extending  the  State  government 
throughout  that  Commonwealth.1 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  directed  to  nominate 
without  delay  assessors  of  taxes  and  collectors  of  customs  and 
internal  revenue,  and  such  other  officers  of  his  Department  as 
were  authorized  by  law,  to  execute  the  revenue  laws  of  the 
United  States.  Preference  in  making  appointments  was  to 
be  given  to  qualified  loyal  residents  of  the  districts  in  which 
their  respective  duties  were  to  be  performed;  but  if  suitable 
persons  could  not  be  found  residing  there,  then  citizens  of 
other  States  or  districts  should  be  named. 

In  the  matter  of  appointments  similar  instructions  were 
given  to  the  Postmaster-General,  who  was  empowered  to  es 
tablish  post  offices  and  post  routes,  and  to  enforce  the  postal 
laws  of  the  United  States  in  the  State  of  Virginia. 

The  heads  of  the  remaining  Executive  Departments,  State, 
War,  Navy  and  Interior,  were  likewise  ordered  to  enforce  the 
acts  of  Congress  pertaining  to  their  respective  offices.  The 
judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court  for  Virginia  was 
directed  to  hold  courts  in  that  Commonwealth,  while  it  was 
made  the  duty  of  the  Attorney-General  to  instruct  the  proper 
officers  to  libel  and  bring  to  judgment,  confiscation  and  sale, 
property  subject  to  confiscation,  and  to  provide  for  the  admin 
istration  of  justice  within  the  said  State  in  all  matters  of 
which  the  Federal  courts  had  cognizance. 

It  was  this  recognition  of  his  government,  and  this  assur 
ance  of  support,  that  induced  Mr.  Pierpont  less  than  three 
weeks  afterward  to  remove  his  capital  from  Alexandria.    An 
account  of  this  event  as  well  as  of  the  nature  of  the  Gover 
nor's  duties  in  his  enlarged  jurisdiction,  has  been  anticipated. 
In  recognizing  Mr.   Pierpont  as  Governor  of  Virginia, 
1  McPherson's  Pol.  Hand-Book,  1868,  p.  8. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  447 

President  Johnson  merely  concluded  to  retain  for  reconstruc 
tion  what  had  already  been  accomplished  by  the  loyal  minor 
ity  of  that  Commonwealth.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  perceive  why, 
by  rejecting  what  had  been  done,  he  should  have  increased 
the  difficulties  of  a  situation  even  then  sufficiently  complicated. 
While  military  governor  of  Tennessee  he  had  executed,  and, 
so  far  as  appears,  without  remonstrance,  all  the  measures 
recommended  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  so  that  when  he  succeeded  to 
the  Presidency  he  was  to  some  extent  committed  to  the  policy 
of  his  predecessor.  He  preserved  his  consistency  by  en 
deavoring  to  maintain  that  system  in  which  he  had  formerly 
acquiesced,  and  in  sustaining  the  reconstructed  governments 
of  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Tennessee  and  Virginia  it  is  some 
what  hazardous  to  affirm  that  he  acted  unwisely.  More  than 
this  the  adherents  of  President  Lincoln  could  not  reasonably 
have  expected.  Mr.  Johnson  was  not,  however,  required  by 
any  consideration  of  moment  to  apply  that  mode  of  restoration 
to  the  seven  remaining  States;  nor  is  it  by  any  means  certain 
that  he  had  a  legal  right  to  do  so.  With  President  Lincoln  the 
problem  was  to  preserve  the  Union.  To  effect  that  object  he 
believed  it  necessary  to  institute  loyal  governments,  and  his 
action  in  so  doing  appears  to  have  been  clearly  within  his 
powers  as  Commander-in-Chief.  Had  his  course  been  unwise 
or  even  prejudicial  to  national  interests,  the  reorganization 
of  those  States  was  still  a  legitimate  war  measure  to  which 
his  discretion  undoubtedly  extended.  When  Andrew  John 
son  became  President,  however,  the  nature  of  the  problem  had 
greatly  changed,  for  even  though  no  proclamation  had  yet 
announced  the  termination  of  the  Rebellion,  hostilities  had 
entirely  ceased  before  he  issued  the  first  of  his  orders  on  re 
construction.  It  was  only  by  something  like  a  legal  fiction, 
therefore,  that  the  war  powers  could  longer  be  exercised.  It  is 
believed  that  his  failure  to  recognize  the  different  circum 
stances  was  an  error  of  judgment.  The  danger  of  a  renewal 


448    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  the  conflict  was  not  sufficiently  real  to  justify  a  continuance 
of  the  unlimited  authority  that  might  be  deemed  necessary  in 
time  of  war.  He  was  aware  that  Congress  had  refused  to  ad 
mit  representatives  or  to  count  electoral  votes  from  those 
States  reorganized  during  the  Rebellion,  when  the  action  of 
the  Executive  rested  on  the  firm,  if  somewhat  undefined,  foun 
dation  of  the  war  powers.  After  a  majority,  even  in  these 
circumstances,  had  pronounced  against  that  system,  on  what 
ground  could  the  new  President  base  his  expectation  of  suc 
cess?  Without  first  assuring  himself  of  the  cooperation  of 
the  Legislative  branch  he  should  not  have  undertaken  the  ar 
duous  task  of  reviving  Union  governments  in  those  common 
wealths  where  even  the  very  image  of  civil  authority  had  been 
effaced.  Perhaps  he  had  been  convinced  that  the  method  of 
restoration  was  analogous  to  the  process  of  terminating  war 
with  a  foreign  power  in  which  the  initiative  is  to  be  taken 
by  the  Executive  Department  of  Government.  On  this  sub 
ject  Mr.  Elaine  acutely  remarks,  that,  "  There  is  nothing  of 
which  a  public  officer  can  be  so  easily  persuaded  as  of  the  en 
larged  jurisdiction  that  pertains  to  his  station."  l  It  was 
.while  executing  his  measures  of  reconstruction  that  Mr.  Lin 
coln  discovered  the  real  sentiments  and,  to  his  surprise,  no 
doubt,  encountered  the  determined  opposition  of  Congress. 
In  the  case  of  his  successor  the  same  excuse  cannot  be  urged, 
lor  he  was  aware  of  the  temper  of  the  Republican  majority, 
and  appears  to  have  consulted  only  his  .courage  in  espousing 
a  cause  already  condemned  by  many  of  the  most  influential 
leaders  of  the  party  to  which  he  principally  owed  his  election. 
As  the  order  recognizing  the  Alexandria  government 
marked  no  distinct  Executive  policy,  speculation  could  still 
amuse  or  employ  itself  on  the  expected  announcement  by  the 
new  President.  The  first  step  in  that  momentous  undertaking 
was  the  appointment,  May  29,  1865,  of  William  W.  Hoi  den 
1  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II.  p.  70. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  449 

as  Provisional  Governor  of  North  Carolina.    The  order  pro 
mulgating  that  measure  was  as  follows : 

Whereas  the  fourth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  declares  that  the  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every 
State  in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion  and  domestic  violence;  and  whereas  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is,  by  the  Constitution,  made  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  as  well  as  chief  civil  executive  officer  of 
the  United  States,  and  is  bound  by  solemn  oath  faithfully  to  execute  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  to  take  care  that  the  laws 
be  faithfully  executed ;  and  whereas  the  rebellion,  which  has  been  waged 
by  a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  against  the  properly  con 
stituted  authorities  of  the  Government  thereof,  in  the  most  violent  and 
revolting  form,  but  whose  organized  and  armed  forces  have  now  been 
almost  entirely  overcome,  has,  in  its  revolutionary  progress,  deprived  the 
people  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  of  all  civil  government;  and 
whereas  it  becomes  necessary  and  proper  to  carry  out  and  enforce  the 
obligations  of  the  United  States  to  the  people  of  North  Carolina,  in  se 
curing  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  republican  form  of  government: 

Now,  therefore,  in  obedience  to  the  high  and  solemn  duties  imposed 
upon  me  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  the  loyal  people  of  said  State  to  organize  a  State  government, 
whereby  justice  may  be  established,  domestic  tranquillity  insured,  and 
loyal  citizens  protected  in  all  their  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  property,  I, 
Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States,  and  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  do  hereby  appoint  Wil 
liam  W.  Holden,  Provisional  Governor  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be,  at  the  earliest  practicable  period,  to  prescribe  such 
rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  necessary  and  proper  for  convening  a 
convention,  composed  of  delegates  to  be  chosen  by  that  portion  of  the 
people  of  said  State  who  are  loyal  to  the  United  States,  and  no  others, 
for  the  purpose  of  altering  or  amending  the  constitution  thereof;  and 
with  authority  to  exercise,  within  the  limits  of  said  State,  all  the  powers 
necessary  and  proper  to  enable  such  loyal  people  of  the  State  of  North 
Carolina  to  restore  said  State  to  its  constitutional  relations  to  the  Fed 
eral  Government,  and  to  present  such  a  republican  form  of  State  gov 
ernment  as  will  entitle  the  State  to  the  guarantee  of  the  United  States 
therefor,  and  its  people  to  protection  by  the  United  States  against  in 
vasion,  insurrection,  and  domestic  violence;  Provided,  that  in  any  elec 
tion  that  may  be  hereafter  held  for  choosing  delegates  to  any  State  con 
vention,  as  aforesaid,  no  person  shall  be  qualified  as  an  elector,  or  shall 
be  eligible  as  a  member  of  such  convention,  unless  he  shall  have  pre 
viously  taken  the  oath  of  amnesty,  as  set  forth  in  the  President's  procla- 


450    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

mation  of  May  29,  A.  D.  1865,  and  is  a  voter  qualified  as  prescribed  by 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  in  force  im 
mediately  before  the  2Oth  day  of  May,  1861,  the  date  of  the  so-called 
ordinance  of  secession;  and  the  said  convention  when  convened,  or  the 
Legislature  that  may  be  thereafter  assembled,  will  prescribe  the  qualifi 
cations  of  electors,  and  the  eligibility  of  persons  to  hold  office  under  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  State,  a  power  the  people  of  the  several 
States  composing  the  Federal  Union  have  rightfully  exercised  from  the 
origin  of  the  Government  to  the  present  time. 

And  I  do  hereby  direct : 

First.  That  the  military  commander  of  the  Department,  and  all  officers 
and  persons  in  the  military  and  naval  service  aid  and  assist  the  said 
Provisional  Governor  in  carrying  into  effect  this  proclamation,  and  they 
are  enjoined  to  abstain  from,  in  any  way,  hindering,  impeding  or  dis 
couraging  the  loyal  people  from  the  organization  of  a  State  Government, 
as  herein  authorized. 

Then  followed  instructions,  similar  to  those  contained  in 
the  order  of  May  9,  relative  to  Virginia,  directing  the  heads 
of  the  several  Executive  Departments  to  enforce  those  Fed 
eral  laws  in  North  Carolina  of  which  the  administration  be 
longed  to  their  respective  offices. 

Somewhat  earlier  on  the  same  day  was  published  an 
Amnesty  Proclamation,  renewing  in  effect  the  provisions  of 
that  issued  by  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  8th  of  December,  1863.  It 
increased,  however,  the  number  of  classes  excepted  from  the 
benefits  of  I  he  original  offer  by  adding  the  following : 

All  persons  who  have  been  or  are  absentees  from  the  United  States 
for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  rebellion. 

All  military  and  naval  officers  in  the  rebel  service,  who  were  educated 
by  the  Government  in  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  or  the  United 
States  Naval  Academy. 

All  persons  who  held  the  pretended  offices  of  governors  of  States  in 
insurrection  against  the  United  States. 

All  persons  who  left  their  homes  within  the  jurisdiction  and  protection 
of  the  United  States,  and  passed  beyond  the  Federal  military  lines  into  the 
pretended  confederate  States  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  rebellion. 

All  persons  who  have  been  engaged  in  the  destruction  of  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States  upon  the  high  seas,  and  all  persons  who  have  made 
raids  into  the  United  States  from  Canada,  or  been  engaged  in  destroying 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  451 

the  commerce  of  the  United  States  upon  the  lakes  and  rivers  that  separate 
the  British  Provinces  from  the  United  States. 

All  persons  who,  at  the  time  when  they  seek  to  obtain  the  benefits 
hereof  by  taking  the  oath  herein  prescribed,  are  in  military,  naval,  or 
civil  confinement,  or  custody,  or  under  bonds  of  the  civil,  military,  or 
naval  authorities,  or  agents  of  the  United  States,  as  prisoners  of  war, 
or  persons  detained  for  offences  of  any  kind,  either  before  or  after  con 
viction. 

All  persons  who  have  voluntarily  participated  in  said  rebellion,  and  the 
estimated  value  of  whose  taxable  property  is  over  twenty  thousand  dol 
lars. 

All  persons  who  have  taken  the  oath  of  amnesty  as  prescribed  in  the 
President's  proclamation  of  December  8,  A.  D.  1863,  or  an  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  since  the  date  of  said 
proclamation,  and  who  have  not  thenceforward  kept  and  maintained  the 
same  inviolate.1 

The  proclamation  provided,  however,  that  persons  belong 
ing  to  the  excluded  classes  could  make  special  application  for 
pardon,  when  such  liberal  clemency  would  be  exercised  by  the 
President  as  was  deemed  consistent  with  the  facts  in  each 
case,  and  with  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  United  States. 

Secretary  Seward,  who  attested  the  proclamation,  approved 
its  general  tenor  as  well  as  its  details.  At  first  he  appears  to 
have  opposed  the  "  Twenty-thousand-dollar  exclusion,"  but 
finally  yielded  to  the  arguments  of  the  President,  who  by 
this  description  had  hoped  to  include  a  numerous  class  that 
did  not  come  under  any  of  those  specified.  In  this  re 
spect  it  possessed  the  comprehensive  as  well  as  the  conveni 
ent  character  of  a  general  warrant.  All  attempts  to  fix  re 
sponsibility  for  secession  have  proved  futile,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  explain  the  President's  attitude  toward  Southern  men  of 
property  unless,  indeed,  he  meant  to  humiliate  a  class  that 
he  personally  disliked,  or,  perhaps,  he  intended  to  act  upon  the 
principle  that  to  be  mild  it  is  necessary  first  to  appear  cruel. 
Precisely  why  the  other  classes  were  excepted  from  the  offer 
of  indemnity  the  reader  of  Rebellion  literature  need  not  be 

1McPherson's  Pol.  Hand-Book,  1868,  pp.  10-11. 


452    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

informed.  The  amnesty  proclamation  applied  to  all  the  in 
surgent  States. 

Like  the  "  Louisiana  plan,"  the  order  appointing  Mr.  Hoi- 
den  was  based  on  that  clause  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
which  guarantees  "  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  republican 
form  of  government."  It  was  in  his  character  of  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  as  well  as  Executive,  that  he 
assumed  to  appoint  a  provisional  governor.  The  Rebellion, 
which  in  its  progress  had  "  deprived  the  people  of  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  of  all  civil  government,"  he  described  as 
having  been  "  almost  entirely  overcome."  This  condition 
rendered  it  necessary  to  fulfill  the  Federal  obligation  to  secure 
to  the  people  of  that  State  a  republican  form  of  government. 
The  order  being  self-explanatory,  it  only  remains  to  observe 
that  none  but  "  loyal  people  "  were  to  participate  in  electing 
delegates  to  the  convention,  which  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the 
Governor  to  convoke.  The  term  "  loyal  people  "  included  all 
who  would  take  the  oath  and  receive  the  pardon  provided  for 
in  the  proclamation.  These  were  required  to  be  qualified 
voters  under  the  laws  in  force  immediately  before  the  act  of 
secession.  By  this  provision  the  negroes  of  the  State  were 
excluded  from  the  electoral  people,  and  the  work  of  recon 
struction  left  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  whites.  The  con 
vention  chosen  by  these  citizens,  or  the  Legislature  that  might 
be  thereafter  assembled,  was  authorized  to  "  prescribe  the 
qualifications  of  electors,  and  the  eligibility  of  persons  to  hold 
office  under  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State,  a  power/' 
added  the  order,  which  "  the  people  of  the  several  States  com 
posing  the  Federal  Union  have  rightfully  exercised  from  the 
origin  of  the  Government  to  the  present  time." 

Governor  Holden  in  a  proclamation  of  June  12,  1865, 
announced  his  appointment  and  declared  his  purpose  to  order 
an  election  of  delegates  to  a  State  convention,  the  object  of 
calling  which  was  briefly  noticed.  He  also  made  known  his 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  453 

intention  to  commission  justices  of  the  peace  for  the  purpose 
of  administering  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  opening  the 
polls.  He  urged  the  people  to  resume  their  accustomed  pur 
suits;  refugees  were  encouraged  by  an  offer  of  protection  to 
return  to  the  State,  and  f reedmen  were  instructed  in  the  duties 
peculiar  to  their  altered  circumstances. 

By  a  second  proclamation,  dated  August  8,  the  choice  of 
delegates  to  the  proposed  convention  was  fixed  for  September 
21  succeeding.  Some  delay  in  appointing  a  date  for  holding 
the  election  was  occasioned  by  a  desire  to  afford  the  people  an 
opportunity  of  enrolling  their  names  and  obtaining  the  re 
quired  certificates. 

By  such  voters  as  were  not  included  in  any  of  the  excepted 
classes,  together  with  the  few  who  had  been  able  to  procure  the 
Presidential  pardon,  full  delegations  were  chosen  in  all  but 
three  counties.  The  details  of  this  election  accessible  to  the 
writer  are  exceedingly  meagre.  Owing  much  to  the  timely 
publication  and  the  admirable  character  of  the  orders  of  Gen 
eral  Schofield,  who  had  exercised  the  functions  of  military 
governor  until  superseded  by  Mr.  Holden,  the  contest  appears 
to  have  been  free  from  unusual  violence,  though  newspaper 
correspondents,  it  is  true,  reported  disturbances  at  several 
polling  places  and  mention  rumors  of  rioting. 

The  convention,  which  assembled  at  Raleigh  on  October  2, 
was  composed  for  the  most  part  of  members  who  had  either 
openly  opposed  or  reluctantly  joined  the  secession  movement. 
There  were  few,  however,  who  had  not  given  aid  and  comfort 
to  the  enemy.  In  other  words,  they  were  Whigs  and  con 
servative  Democrats.  Every  representative  readily  took  the 
oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The 
convention  organized  by  electing  Edwin  G.  Reade,  an  ex- 
member  of  the  Thirty-fifth  Congress,  as  president.  On  taking 
his  seat  Mr.  Reade  made  an  appropriate  and  conciliatory  ad 
dress. 


454    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  Provisional  Governor  also  submitted  to  the  members 
of  the  convention  a  brief  message  in  which  he  observed  that 
their  duties  were  too  plain  to  require  any  suggestions  from 
him.  North  Carolina,  he  said,  attempted  in  May,  1861,  to 
separate  herself  from  the  Union.  That  attempt  involved  her 
in  protracted  and  disastrous  war.  She  entered  the  rebellion 
a  slaveholding  and  emerged  from  it  a  non-slaveholding  State. 
"  In  other  respects,"  he  declared,  "  so  far  as  her  existence  as  a 
State  and  her  rights  as  a  State  are  concerned,  she  has  under 
gone  no  change."  l  He  assumed  that  the  convention  would 
insert  in  the  organic  law  a  provision  forever  prohibiting  invol 
untary  servitude  in  North  Carolina.  The  language  abolish 
ing  that  institution,  the  form  of  the  resolution  abrogating  the 
ordinance  of  secession  and  the  nature  of  the  action  to  be  taken 
on  the  war  debt  were  the  most  important  questions  before  the 
convention. 

On  October  7  the  repealing  ordinance  was  passed  unani 
mously  in  the  following  terms : 

The  ordinance  of  the  convention  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  rati 
fied  on  the  2 ist  day  of  November,  1789,  which  adopted  and  ratified  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  also  all  acts  and  parts  of  acts  of 
the  General  Assembly  ratifying  and  adopting  amendments  to  the  said 
Constitution,  are  now,  and  at  all  times  since  the  adoption  and  ratification 
thereof,  have  been,  in  full  force  and  effect,  notwithstanding  the  supposed 
ordinance  of  the  2Oth  of  May,  1861,  declaring  the  same  to  be  repealed, 
rescinded,  and  abrogated;  and  the  said  supposed  ordinance  is  now,  and 
at  all  times  hath  been,  null  and  void.* 

The  resolution  abolishing  slavery,  reported  on  the  following 
day,  was  adopted  on  the  pth  of  October,  and  is  as  follows : 

Be  it  declared  and  ordained  by  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  in  convention  assembled,  and  it  is  hereby  declared  and 
ordained,  That  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude,  otherwise  than  for 

*Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  626. 

'  This  ordinance  was  ratified  by  a  vote  of  20,506  to  2,002 ;  Poore's  Char 
ters  and  Constitutions,  Vol.  II.  p.  14191 ;  also  Three  Decades  of  Federal 
Legislation,  p.  385. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  455 

crimes,  whereof  the  parties  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  be,  and 
is  hereby,  forever  prohibited  within  the  State.1 

Not  without  some  reluctance  there  was  also  adopted  a  reso 
lution  prohibiting  any  future  Legislature  from  assuming  or 
paying  any  State  debt  created  directly  or  indirectly  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  the  Rebellion.  There  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  convention  a  strong  element  opposed  to  the  passage  of 
such  a  measure,  or  at  all  events  who  preferred  to  refer  it  to  a 
popular  vote.  The  decision  of  the  convention  on  this  subject 
appears  to  have  been  influenced  by  a  telegram  from  the  Presi 
dent  to  Governor  Holden,  in  which  the  former  says : 

Every  dollar  of  the  debt  created  to  aid  the  rebellion  against  the  United 
States  should  be  repudiated  finally  and  forever.  The  great  mass  of  the 
people  should  not  be  taxed  to  pay  a  debt  to  aid  in  carrying  on  a  re 
bellion  which  they  in  fact,  if  left  to  themselves,  were  opposed  to.  Let 
those  who  have  given  their  means  for  the  obligations  of  the  State  look 
to  that  power  they  tried  to  establish  in  violation  of  law,  Constitution, 
and  will  of  the  people.  They  must  meet  their  fate.  It  is  their  mis 
fortune,  and  cannot  be  recognized  by  the  people  of  any  State  professing 
themselves  loyal  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  in  the 
Union.  ..." 

The  convention  adjourned  October  19  to  reassemble  on  the 
fourth  Thursday  of  May,  1866.  Judge  Reade,  its  president, 
previously  delivered  a  farewell  address,  in  which  he  said: 
"  Our  work  is  finished.  The  breach  in  the  Government,  as 
far  as  the  same  was  by  force,  has  been  overcome  by  force; 
and  so  far  as  the  same  has  had  the  sanction  of  legislation,  the 
legislation  has  been  declared  to  be  null  and  void.  So  that 
there  remains  nothing  to  be  done  except  the  withdrawal  of 
military  power  when  all  our  governmental  relations  will  be 
restored,  without  further  asking,  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States.  The  element  of  slavery,  which  so  long  distracted  and 

1  Ratified  by  19,039  to  3,970  votes.    Poore's  Charters  and  Constitutions, 
Vol.  II.  p.  I4i9n. 
*  McPherson's  Pol.  Hand-Book,  1868,  p.  19, 


456    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

divided  the  sections,  has  by  an  unanimous  vote  been  abolished. 
Every  man  in  the  State  is  free.    The  reluctance  which  for  a 
while  was  felt  to  the  sudden  and  radical  change  in  our  domes 
tic  relations  —  a  reluctance  which  was  made  oppressive  to  us 
by  our  kind  feelings  for  the  slave,  and  by  our  apprehensions 
of  the  evils  which  were  to  follow  him  —  has  yielded  to  the  de 
termination  to  be  to  him,  as  we  always  have  been,  his  best 
friends;   to  advise,  protect,  educate  and  elevate  him;   to  seek 
his  confidence,  and  to  give  him  ours,  each  occupying  appropri 
ate  positions  to  the  other.     .     .     .It  remains  for  us  to  re 
turn  to  our  constituents  and  engage  with  them  in  the  great 
work  of  restoring  our  beloved  State  to  order  and  prosperity."  l 
An  election,  fixed  for  November  9,  was  ordered  by  Mr. 
Holden  for  the  choice  of  Governor,  members  of  a  General  As 
sembly,  county  officers  and  Representatives  in  Congress.    On 
the  same  occasion  the  people  were  to  vote  on  the  ordinance 
abolishing  and  prohibiting  slavery.     The  action  of  the  con 
vention  on  the  Confederate  debt  being  final,  that  subject  was 
not  referred  to  the  popular  judgment. 

On  behalf  of  the  convention  the  president  and  other  dele 
gates  soon  after  adjournment  proceeded  to  Washington  to 
acquaint  Mr.  Johnson  with  the  result  of  their  deliberations. 
They  related  to  him  what  has  already  been  placed  before  the 
reader.  As  the  convention  had  yielded  what  was  involved  in 
the  war,  President  Johnson  was  requested  to  declare  on  the 
part  of  the  Federal  authorities  that  the  governmental  rela 
tions  of  North  Carolina  had  been  reconciled.  Notwithstand 
ing  what  had  been  done  they  feared  that  their  State  delega 
tion  would  be  excluded  from  Congress  by  the  imposition  of  a 
test  oath  which  few  men  in  that  commonwealth  could  take. 
The  convention,  therefore,  petitioned  Congress,  through  Mr. 
Johnson,  to  repeal  the  requirement.  The  President,  after  ex 
pressing  his  satisfaction  with  what  North  Carolina  had  done, 
1  Harper's  New  Monthly  Magazine,  Vol.  XXXIL,  p.  127. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  457 

reminded  the  delegates  that  to  make  restoration  practicable 
one  thing  still  remained  to  be  accomplished,  namely,  their  ac 
ceptance  of  the  amendment  abolishing  slavery  throughout  the 
United  States. 

The  ordinances  submitted  to  the  people  were  ratified  at  the 
November  election,  when  Jonathan  Worth  was  chosen  Gover 
nor  over  Mr.  Holden  by  a  majority  of  6,730,  in  a  total  of 
58,554  votes.  The  repeal  of  the  secession  ordinance  was 
ratified  by  a  vote  of  20,506  to  2,002,  and  that  prohibiting 
slavery  by  19,039  against  3,970. 

In  a  dispatch  of  November  27,  President  Johnson,  thanking 
the  Provisional  Governor  for  the  efficient  manner  in  which  he 
had  executed  his  duties,  said  that  the  result  of  the  election  was 
greatly  to  damage  the  prospects  of  the  State  in  the  restora 
tion  of  its  government,  that  if  the  action  and  spirit  of  the  Leg 
islature  were  in  the  same  direction  it  would  greatly  increase 
the  harm  already  done,  and  might  prove  fatal.  He  hoped  the 
mischief  would  be  repaired.1 

Meanwhile  the  Legislature  during  a  brief  session  ratified, 
with  only  six  dissenting  votes,  the  Thirteenth  Amendment, 
and  elected  John  Pool  and  William  A.  Graham  United  States 
Senators.  Seven  Representatives  in  Congress  had  been  pre 
viously  chosen. 

Mr.  Holden,  who  continued  to  perform  the  functions  of  his 
office  until  the  inauguration  of  his  successor  on  the  I5th  of 
December,  probably  owed  his  appointment  to  his  reputation 
as  a  Democratic  editor.  Though  his  rise  to  political  promi 
nence  was  similar  to  that  of  the  President,  he  had  not  the 
latter's  inflexibility  of  principle.  A  secessionist  in  1856,  when 
the  success  of  Fremont  appeared  probable,  he  soon  began  to 
recede  from  that  position,  and  in  1859  was  opposed  to  dis 
union;  subsequently  he  drifted  with  the  popular  current  and 
even  went  so  far  in  an  advanced  stage  of  the  Rebellion  as  to 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  628. 


458    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

advocate  a  "  last-dollar-and-last-man  "  resolution.  But  even 
this,  together  with  the  expression  of  extreme  opinions,  did  not 
restore  him  to  public  confidence,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
war  the  Standard,  which  he  edited,  became  the  organ  of  the 
disaffected.  Notwithstanding  this  wavering  and  inconsistent 
career  the  fact  that  he  was  generally  regarded  as  an  enemy  of 
secession  singled  him  out  as  the  proper  person  to  reorganize 
the  government  of  North  Carolina. 

Though  the  President  was  not  indifferent  to  the  demoralized 
condition  of  his  native  State,  that  consideration  alone  does  not 
appear  to  have  induced  him  to  begin  the  process  of  reconstruc 
tion  with  that  commonwealth.  There  is  strong  testimony  to 
prove  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  prepared  a  similar  proclamation 
for  restoring  the  former  relations  of  North  Carolina,  and  on 
July  8,  1867,  General  Grant  testified  before  the  Joint  Com 
mittee  on  Reconstruction  that  he  had  twice  heard  read  at 
meetings  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  a  paper  embodying  the 
same  provisions  as  that  published  by  President  Johnson. 

Before  taking  the  second  step  a  brief  interval  elapsed;  per 
haps  the  President  was  hesitating;  however  this  may  be,  he 
informed  Hon.  George  S.  Boutwell  that  "  the  measure  was 
tentative."  The  fears  of  the  Massachusetts  statesman  and  his 
concern  for  harmony  in  the  Republican  party,  of  which  he  was 
an  able  and  honored  leader,  induced  him,  in  company  with 
Senator  Morrill,  of  Vermont,  to  call  on  the  President.  Dur 
ing  their  conversation  Mr.  Johnson,  when  the  dangers 
of  his  policy  were  indicated,  assured  his  visitors  "  that  noth 
ing  further  would  be  done  until  the  experiment  had  been 
tested." ' 

Notwithstanding  this  deliberate  assurance,  the  President 
at  that  time  appears  to  have  almost  determined  on  the  system 
that  he  intended  to  adopt,  for  scarcely  two  weeks  had  passed 
when  he  appointed,  by  a  proclamation  similar  to  that  for  North 

1  McClure's  Magazine,  Dec.,  1899,  p.  174. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  459 

Carolina,  William  L.  Sharkey,  Provisional  Governor  of  Mis 
sissippi.  Within  a  month  from  the  date  of  Mr.  Holden's  ap 
pointment  others  were  made  for  all  the  remaining  States  ex 
cept  Florida,  the  order  for  reorganizing  which  was  delayed 
till  July  13. 1 

The  origin  and  development  of  the  Executive  plan  having 
now  been  traced  with  some  degree  of  minuteness,  it  is  not  the 
design  of  this  essay  to  pursue  circumstantially  the  institution 
of  that  system  in  the  six  remaining  States.  By  proclamations 
almost  identical  with  that  issued  in  the  case  of  North  Carolina, 
provisional  governors  were  appointed  in  all  of  those  common 
wealths  before  the  middle  of  July.  Though  the  method  of 
reorganization  in  these  States  presented  similar  features,  sev 
eral  were  distinguished  in  some  respects  from  the  others. 
Observations  on  those  differences  will  employ  nearly  all  that 
remains  to  be  said  on  Reconstruction  under  President  John 
son. 

The  appointment  of  Mr.  Holden  alarmed  Republican  lead 
ers;  the  successive  proclamations  for  restoring  the  other 
States  directed  public  attention  to  the  questions  involved  in 
reconstruction.  Seeing  that  Congress  was  not  in  session,  that 
the  President  had  assumed  an  expectant  attitude,  and  that 
every  plan  of  reunion  proposed  was  liable  to  serious  objection, 
it  is  not  a  matter  of  wonder  that  the  recent  Confederate  au 
thorities  attempted  of  themselves  to  restore  Federal  relations. 

These  were  among  the  considerations  that  induced  Gover 
nor  Clarke,  of  Mississippi,  to  summon  the  Legislature  of  that 
State  to  meet  on  May  18.  In  his  address  convoking  the  dis 
loyal  assembly  he  urged  the  people,  in  order  to  remove  the 
necessity  for  sending  Federal  troops  among  them,  to  restore 

1  The  Provisional  appointments  were  made  in  the  following  order : 
June  13,  1865,  William  L.  Sharkey,  Mississippi ;  June  17,  James  Johnson, 
Georgia,  and  Andrew  J.  Hamilton,  Texas;  June  21,  Lewis  E.  Parsons, 
Alabama;  June  30,  Benjamin  F.  Perry,  South  Carolina;  July  13,  William 
Marvin,  Florida. 


460    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  preserve  peace.  The  Legislature  came  together  accord 
ingly,  and,  among  other  measures,  provided  for  the  election, 
on  June  19,  of  delegates  to  a  State  convention.  Before  that 
date,  however,  the  President  had  appointed  William  L.  Shar- 
key,  an  eminent  jurist,  Provisional  Governor,  thus  ignoring 
both  the  measures  of  Mr.  Clarke  and  the  insurgent  assembly. 
The  latter  was  dispersed  by  a  military  order,  while  the  Gov 
ernor  was  carried  off  to  a  fortress  in  Boston  harbor. 

Mr.  Sharkey,  in  a  dutiful  and  able  address,  appointed 
August  7  as  the  day  for  holding  an  election  of  delegates  to  a 
State  convention  which  was  to  meet  at  the  city  of  Jackson  one 
week  later.  In  this  proclamation,  he  said :  "  The  negroes 
are  now  free  — •  free  by  the  fortunes  of  war  —  free  by  proc 
lamation  —  free  by  common  consent  — free  practically,  as  well 
as  theoretically,  and  it  is  too  late  to  raise  questions  as  to  the 
means  by  which  they  became  so."  1  Though  the  Governor, 
to  avoid  the  delay  of  separate  county  organization,  had  ap 
pointed  many  local  officials  who  had  held  their  posts  during 
the  Rebellion,  he  required  all  of  them  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  prescribed  by  the  President. 

The  convention,  which  assembled  at  the  appointed  time, 
declared  the  ordinance  of  secession  null  and  void,  prohibited 
slavery  and  made  it  the  duty  of  the  next  Legislature  to  provide 
for  the  protection  of  the  person  and  the  property  of  freedmen. 
The  lawmaking  body  was  also  to  take  measures  for  guard 
ing  both  the  negroes  and  the  commonwealth  against  any  evils 
that  might  arise  from  sudden  emancipation.  The  first  Mon 
day  in  October  was  appointed  for  the  election  of  State  officers 
and  members  of  Congress.  A  memorial  was  also  adopted 
urging  the  President  to  remove  the  colored  troops  from  the 
State.  The  members,  acting  apparently  in  their  individual 
capacity,  united  in  a  petition  for  the  pardon  of  Jefferson  Davis 
and  of  Governor  Clarke.  The  amendment  of  the  State  con- 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  580. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  461 

stitution  abolishing  slavery  was  adopted  by  the  decisive  vote 
of  86  to  ii.  After  South  Carolina,  Missisissippi  contained 
the  greatest  proportion  of  slaves,  and  was  thus  very  deeply 
involved  in  the  system. 

While  the  convention  was  in  session  the  President  sent  to 
Governor  Sharkey  a  telegram  in  which  he  made  the  following 
remarkable  suggestion : 

I  am  gratified  to  see  that  you  have  organized  your  convention  without 
difficulty.  ...  If  you  could  extend  the  elective  franchise  to  all 
persons  of  color  who  can  read  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in 
English  and  write  their  names,  and  to  all  persons  of  color  who  own  real 
estate  valued  at  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  and  pay 
taxes  thereon,  you  would  completely  disarm  the  adversary  and  set  an 
example  the  other  States  will  follow.  This  you  can  do  with  perfect 
safety,  and  you  would  thus  place  Southern  States  in  reference  to  free 
persons  of  color  upon  the  same  basis  with  the  free  States.  I  hope  and 
trust  your  convention  will  do  this,  and  as  a  consequence  the  radicals,  who 
are  wild  upon  negro  franchise,  will  be  completely  foiled  in  their  attempts 
to  keep  the  Southern  States  from  renewing  their  relations  to  the  Union 
by  not  accepting  their  Senators  and  Representatives.1 

From  the  view  point  of  practical  politics  this  recommenda 
tion  was  undoubtedly  a  wise  one,  but  it  will  scarcely  be  con 
tended  that  it  was  the  suggestion  of  enlightened  statesman 
ship.  The  South,  distrusting  the  President's  sincerity,  re 
fused  to  adopt  his  suggestion.  The  communication  is  repro 
duced,  not  to  show  that  the  President  was  not  always  impelled 
by  the  highest  motives  so  much  as  to  show  that  even  before 
Congress  had  assembled  he  had  already  come  to  regard  as 
"  the  adversary  "  those  whose  exertions  secured  his  election. 

In  his  proclamation  appointing  a  date  for  the  election  of 
delegates  Governor  Sharkey  advised  the  people,  when  it  might 
be  necessary  in  consequence  of  the  remoteness  of  a  military 
force,  to  form  a  county  patrol  for  the  apprehension  of  offend 
ers.  Information  having  reached  him  that  in  many  parts  of 

1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  581. 


462    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  State  organized  bands  had  been  robbing  and  plundering, 
and  that  the  Federal  troops  were  insufficient  to  suppress 
these  disorders,  he  urged  citizens,  especially  the  young 
men  who  had  "  so  distinguished  themselves  for  gallantry," 
to  organize  promptly  in  each  county  volunteer  companies,  one 
of  cavalry  and  one  of  infantry  if  practicable,  to  assist  in  de 
tecting,  punishing  and  preventing  crime. 

From  his  headquarters  at  Vicksburg,  General  Slocum,  the 
Federal  commander,  immediately  published  an  order  to  pre 
vent  the  proposed  reorganization  of  the  militia.  The  con 
templated  force,  he  said,  would  be  numerically  superior  to  his 
own,  and,  as  many  of  the  Union  troops  on  duty  in  Mississippi 
were  freedmen,  collisions  would  be  unavoidable.  The  crimes 
referred  to  by  Mr.  Sharkey  were,  the  General  asserted,  com 
mitted  against  Northern  men,  Government  couriers  and  ne 
groes.  Southerners,  it  was  true,  had  been  halted  by  these 
marauders,  but  were  promptly  released  and  informed  that 
they  had  been  stopped  by  mistake.  Citizens  who  recognized 
the  persons  were  unwilling  to  disclose  the  names  of  these 
lawless  members  of  the  community.  The  State,  too,  he 
declared,  had  not  yet  been  relieved  from  the  attitude  of 
hostility  which  she  assumed  against  the  General  Government. 
Those  engaged  in  attempts  to  organize  the  militia  would  be 
arrested. 

Fearing  that  the  President  would  not  support  General  Slo 
cum,  Carl  Schurz,  who  had  been  sent  South  on  a  mission  to 
assist  in  carrying  out  the  Administration  policy,  expressed  in 
a  communication  to  the  President  some  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  the  Governor's  action.  To  this  the  President,  in  a  reply  of 
August  30,  said  he  presumed  that  General  Slocum,  without 
first  consulting  the  Government,  would  issue  no  order  interfer 
ing  with  Mr.  Sharkey  in  his  effort  to  restore  the  functions  of 
the  State  government.  In  the  matter  of  organizing  patrols 
Mr.  Johnson  took  the  same  view  as  the  Governor,  and  in  that 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  463 

connection  said,  "  The  people  must  be  trusted  with  their  gov 
ernment,  and,  if  trusted,  my  opinion  is  that  they  will  act  in 
good  faith  and  restore  their  former  constitutional  relations 
with  all  the  States  composing  the  Union."  1 

The  lapse  of  fifteen  months  had  worked  a  revolution  in  the 
opinions  of  the  President.  Circumstances,  it  is  true,  had 
changed  since  the  delivery  of  his  Nashville  speech;  the  main 
question,  however,  had  not  greatly  altered,  for  it  was  still 
important  to  determine  the  political  people  of  the  late  insur 
gent  States.  From  declaring  that  "  rebels  "  must  take  a  back 
seat  in  the  work  of  restoration,  the  President  had  come  to  be 
lieve  that  "  the  people  must  be  trusted  with  their  government." 
It  is  not  to  convict  Mr.  Johnson  of  inconsistency  that  his  opin 
ions  are  here  brought  into  juxtaposition,  but  rather  to  inquire 
whether  every  important  consideration  for  ignoring  secession 
ists  in  1864  had  disappeared  by  1865. 

On  representation  from  the  Provisional  Governor  that  the 
Federal  commander  interfered  to  prevent  the  execution  of 
his  proclamation  for  reorganizing  the  militia,  the  President 
on  September  2  required  General  Slocum  to  revoke  his  mili 
tary  order.  Under  instructions  somewhat  peremptory  in  tone, 
that  officer  two  days  later  rescinded  his  proclamation. 

The  condition  of  the  freedmen,  as  well  as  their  exact  legal 
status,  became  about  this  time  the  subject  of  much  discussion 
in  Mississippi.  While  many  continued  in  the  service  of  their 
old  masters,  numbers  roamed  about  the  country  in  idleness, 
and  nearly  all  of  them  had  very  extravagant  notions  of  their 
newly  acquired  rights  and  privileges.-  Though  the  whites 
admitted  of  necessity  the  complete  freedom,  they  were  for  the 
most  part  unprepared  to  grant  equal  rights  to  negroes.  Be 
tween  them  and  their  employers,  however,  there  occurred  but 
little  serious  trouble.  All  labor  was  contracted  for,  and  own 
ers  of  plantations,  apprehensive  that  labor  would  be  difficult 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1865,  p.  583. 


464    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  secure  at  the  beginning  of  the  season,  were  anxious  to  make 
contracts  for  the  year  1866.  Toward  the  close  of  September 
the  assistant  commissioner  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  turned 
over  to  the  civil  authorities  all  the  business  of  his  court. 
To  get  rid  of  military  tribunals,  Governor  Sharkey  promised 
that  in  all  cases  involving  the  rights  of  negroes  their  testimony 
would  be  accepted. 

In  the  election,  which  was  held  on  October  9,  General  Ben 
jamin  G.  Humphreys,  late  of  the  Confederate  army,  was 
chosen  Governor ;  immediately  thereafter  he  was  pardoned  by 
the  President.  Five  Representatives  in  Congress  were  also 
elected.  By  the  Legislature,  which  convened  and  organized 
one  week  later,  Governor  Sharkey  was  appointed  United 
States  Senator  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Jefferson  Davis. 
For  the  long  term,  Mr.  J.  L.  Alcorn  was  elected.  The  legis 
lation  relative  to  f reedmen  will  be  subsequently  considered. 

Besides  his  complaint  to  the  President  relative  to  the  inter 
ference  of  General  Slocum  with  the  proposed  reorganization 
of  the  militia,  Governor  Sharkey  expressed  dissatisfaction 
with  the  military  authorities  who  refused  to  obey  writs  of 
habeas  corpus  issued  by  local  judges.  To  this  Secretary 
Stanton  replied  that  the  grant  of  a  provisional  government  did 
not  affect  the  proper  jurisdiction  of  military  courts,  and  that 
this  jurisdiction  was  still  called  for  in  cases  of  wrong  done  to 
soldiers,  whether  white  or  colored,  and  in  cases  of  wrong  done 
to  colored  citizens,  and  where  the  local  authorities  were  unable 
or  unwilling  to  do  justice,  either  from  defective  machinery, 
or  because  some  State  law  declared  colored  persons  incompe 
tent  as  witnesses.  Mississippi  was  to  a  considerable  extent 
still  under  military  law,  and  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of 
Jiabeas  corpus  had  not  been  revoked.  To  a  similar  remon 
strance  the  Secretary  of  State  replied  that,  the  commonwealth 
being  still  under  martial  law,  the  military  power  was  supreme. 

On  receiving  tidings  of  General  Johnston's  surrender,  Gov- 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  465 

ernor  Brown,  of  Georgia,  called  a  session  of  the  Confederate 
Legislature,  but  General  Gilmore,  who  commanded  the  de 
partment  including  that  commonwealth,  issued  a  counter- 
proclamation  annulling  the  late  Executive's  order.  General 
Wilson,  in  writing  the  ex-Governor,  used  expressions  that 
were  needlessly  harsh,  and  whether  the  language  was  his  own 
or  that  of  the  President,  to  whom  the  commander  ascribed  it, 
the  style  was  neither  dignified  nor  magnanimous.  Whoever 
may  have  been  responsible  for  the  phraseology,  the  Union 
General  appears  to  have  believed  in  a  rigorous  exercise  of  the 
rights  of  conquest  With  the  defeat  of  this  attempt  of  the 
recent  authorities  to  restore  their  commonwealth  to  its  old 
status,  Georgia  remained  in  military  hands  till  the  appoint 
ment,  June  17,  of  James  Johnson  as  Provisional  Governor. 

In  the  work  of  reconciling  the  people  of  that  State  the  Pro 
visional  Executive  was  assisted  by  a  sensible  address  of  ex- 
Governor  Brown,  and  by  the  support  of  many  leading  seces 
sionists.  Now  that  the  "  irrepressible  conflict "  had  been  set 
tled,  the  people  appeared  anxious  for  the  reorganization  of 
their  State.  The  4th  of  October  was  early  fixed  as  the  date 
for  holding  an  election  of  delegates.  The  suffrage  of  citizens 
was  solicited  and  received  by  candidates  of  ability  and  charac 
ter.  These  were  pledged  to  advocate  the  necessary  measures 
for  restoring  their  commonwealth. 

The  convention  assembled  at  Milledgeville  on  October  25, 
was  called  to  order  by  the  Provisional  Governor,  and  elected 
Herschel  V.  Johnson  as  its  president.  Instead  of  declaring 
the  nullity  of  the  secession  and  kindred  ordinances  the  conven 
tion  "  repealed  "  them.  On  the  question  of  repudiating  the 
war  debt  the  vote  stood  133  to  1 17  in  favor  of  the  proposition. 
This  resolution,  however,  was  not  carried  until  November  7, 
and  appears  even  then  to  have  been  passed  only  after  consider 
able  pressure  from  Washington,  whence  the  President  di 
rected  or  assisted  by  telegraph  the  proceedings  in  all  the 


466    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

reconstruction  conventions.  The  war  debt  thus  declared  void 
amounted  to  $18,135,775.  The  necessity  for  this  action  is 
evident;  the  hardships  occasioned  thereby  can  be  easily  imag 
ined. 

The  State  constitution,  which  was  thoroughly  revised,  rec 
ognized  the  changes  that  had  occurred  in  civil  and  social 
affairs.  In  that  instrument  the  freedom  of  slaves  was  ex 
pressly  declared,  and  the  Legislature  was  required  to  make 
regulations  respecting  the  altered  relations  of  this  class  of 
persons.  The  constitution  as  thus  amended  was  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  convention. 

Though  Georgia  was  not  the  most  loyal  supporter  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis  in  the  time  of  his  prosperity,  now  that  adversity 
had  overtaken  him,  the  convention,  in  a  memorial  to  President 
Johnson,  invoked  the  Executive  clemency  in  behalf  of  their 
late  chief.  The  convention  assumed  for  the  people  their  share 
in  the  crime  for  which  Mr.  Davis  and  a  few  others  were  under 
going  punishment. 

As  in  the  case  of  Mississippi,  the  President  approved  the 
organization  of  "  a  police  force  "  in  the  several  counties,  for 
the  purpose  of  arresting  maurauders,  suppressing  crime  and 
enforcing  authority. 

The  Legislature,  which  was  elected  November  15,  assem 
bled  at  Milledgeville  on  the  4th  of  December  following.  With 
its  proceedings  we  are  not  now  concerned  more  than  to  ob 
serve  that  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  was  adopted  by  that 
body  five  days  subsequently.1  The  measures  of  the  Georgia 
Assembly  were  not  before  Congress  when  it  convened. 

Like  the  chief  magistrates  in  several  other  Southern  States, 
the  Confederate  Governor  of  Texas,  when  convinced  after  the 
surrender  of  General  Kirby  Smith  that  the  war  had  ceased, 
took  steps  toward  bringing  his  commonwealth  into  its  old 
practical  relations  with  the  Union.  He  accordingly  ordered 

1  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  Francis  N.  Thorpe,  p.  49. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  467 

an  election  of  delegates  to  a  convention  to  be  held  on  June 
19,  but  was  anticipated  by  President  Johnson,  who  two  days 
earlier  had  appointed  Andrew  J.  Hamilton  Provisional  Gov 
ernor.  Though  the  latter  did  not  promptly  appoint  a  day  for 
holding  the  election,  he  announced  his  intention  of  doing  so 
at  an  early  date.  There  was  probably  in  the  minds  of  the  less 
intelligent  Texans  a  notion  that  emancipation  was  to  be  grad 
ual,  or  that  it  was  not  yet  an  accomplished  fact.  To  dispel 
any  such  idea  the  new  Executive  circulated  an  address  which 
informed  the  public  that  if,  "  in  the  action  of  the  proposed  con 
vention,  the  negro  is  characterized  or  treated  as  less  than  a 
freeman/'  Senators  and  Representatives  from  Texas  would 
vainly  seek  admission  to  the  halls  of  Congress.  The  choice  of 
delegates  having  been  fixed  for  January  8,  1866,  an  account 
of  the  convention  or  of  the  proceedings  in  the  Assembly  sub 
sequently  organized  in  that  State  does  not  fall  within  the  scope 
of  this  work.  In  the  interval  justice  was  administered  by 
officers  temporarily  commissioned  for  that  purpose. 

The  negro  population,  which,  because  of  the  influx  from 
other  Southern  States,  had  doubled  since  1860,  presented  a 
difficult  problem  in  the  reorganization  of  Texas.  They  knew 
little  of  the  uses  of  freedom  and  were  kept  systematically  at 
work  only  by  the  candid  admonitions  of  General  Granger  and 
the  Governor.  Toward  the  close  of  December,  however,  a 
better  feeling  prevailed  among  them;  but  it  appears  to  have 
been  a  serious  problem  to  have  kept  the  freedmen  of  Texas 
steadily  at  work.  Planters  throughout  the  State  lost  heavily 
by  their  inability  to  engage  or  to  retain  in  their  service  labor 
ers  enough  to  gather  the  standing  cotton  crop.  The  full  con 
sideration  of  this  subject  is  inseparable  from  an  analysis  of 
Texan  legislation  relative  to  freedmen.  Though  well  ad 
vanced,  the  reconstruction  of  Texas  under  the  Executive  plan 
was  not  completed  before  the  meeting  of  the  Thirty-ninth 
Congress. 


468    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Nothing  in  the  reorganization  of  Alabama  or  of  South 
Carolina  calls  for  especial  mention.  The  same  is  true  of 
Florida.  Both  the  spirit  and  tendency  of  Southern  legisla 
tion,  however,  require  to  be  noticed,  and  with  that  examina 
tion  a  brief  recapitulation  will  complete  this  investigation. 

Before  concluding  this  inquiry  two  related  topics  require 
briefly  to  be  noticed,  namely,  the  character  of  the  reconstruc 
tion  conventions,  and  the  personnel  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  the 
legislatures  organized  under  their  authority.  As  to  the  former 
it  may  be  observed  that  there  were  several  modes  in  which 
constitutional  conventions  could  have  been  assembled;  all, 
however,  were  objectionable  because  of  an  element  of  irregu 
larity.  Considering  them  chronologically,  rather  than  logi 
cally,  the  first  was  the  method  employed  by  the  Union  men  of 
western  Virginia.  The  Wheeling  convention  of  June,  1861, 
was  composed  of  delegates  chosen  at  elections  called,  not  by 
the  constituted  authorities,  for  they  were  already  committed 
to  a  policy  of  rebellion,  but  by  a  spontaneous  popular  move 
ment  inaugurated  by  loyal  and  influential  leaders.  The  work 
of  this  body,  even  though  revolutionary,  or  at  least  irregular 
in  its  origin,  was  acquiesced  in  by  the  people  affected  and  sub 
sequently  approved  by  the  General  Government.  So  few,  how 
ever,  were  the  loyalists  of  the  insurgent  States  generally,  that 
it  was  not  practicable  elsewhere  in  the  South  to  reorganize 
governments  in  a  similar  manner. 

A  second  mode  was  that  adopted  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  Under 
this  method,  the  President,  as  Commander-in-Chief,  protected 
Union  minorities  in  their  efforts  to  reestablish  local  govern 
ments  in  harmony  with  the  Federal  Constitution.  This  plan, 
it  is  evident,  could  be  justified  merely  as  a  military  measure, 
and,  therefore,  was  lawful  only  during  the  continuance  of  the 
Rebellion.  On  the  return  of  peace  all  such  provisional  schemes 
would  disappear  unless  tolerated  by  the  neglect  or  confirmed 
by  the  legislation  of  Congress.  The  conventions  held  under 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  469 

this  theory  rested  on  the  authority  of  the  commanding  officer, 
who  was  himself  acting  by  Executive  direction.  In  reorgan 
izing  the  government  of  Louisiana,  General  Banks,  it  will  be 
remembered,  declared  that  the  fundamental  law  of  that  com 
monwealth  was  martial  law,  which  was  no  more  than  his  arbi 
trary  will.  In  purging  the  electoral  people  and  amending  the 
constitution  of  that  State  he  acted  in  strict  conformity  with 
that  assumption.  If  in  the  preceding  pages  the  reconstruction 
measures  of  Mr.  Lincoln  have  been  characterized  as  legitimate, 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  it  was  intended  to  assert  that  they 
would  have  been  lawful  in  time  of  peace,  for  under  the  Amer 
ican  system  it  has  never  been  deemed  competent  for  the  na 
tional  Executive  to  call  a  convention.  Though  the  establish 
ments  instituted  under  his  authority,  except  in  the  case  of 
Tennessee,  never  received  the  permanent  sanction  of  Congress, 
the  conventions  which  organized  these  governments  stand  on 
a  foundation  somewhat  different  from  those  assembled  by  the 
appointees  of  President  Johnson,  for  in  the  summer  of  1865 
the  plea  of  military  necessity  could  no  longer  be  urged.  If, 
therefore,  the  conventions  held  in  Louisiana,  Arkansas  and 
Tennessee  were  tainted  with  irregularity,  those  assembled  in 
the  remaining  States  were  undoubtedly  revolutionary.  Tech 
nically,  however,  the  conventions  of  both  classes  stand  on  the 
same  footing.  Governor  Perry,  of  South  Carolina,  regarded 
as  revolutionary  the  body  which  he  convoked  to  reorganize 
his  commonwealth,  and  for  that  reason,  as  he  alleged,  dis 
solved  the  convention  before  it  had  taken  final  action  on  the 
important  question  of  the  Southern  debt. 

The  course  of  the  Confederate  governors  of  Mississippi, 
Georgia  and  Texas,  who  summoned  the  insurgent  legislatures 
of  their  respective  States  for  the  purpose  of  calling  conven 
tions,  suggests  a  third  mode  in  which  the  machinery  of  gov 
ernment  could  have  been  set  in  motion.  This  plan,  however, 
presented  an  evident  difficulty,  inasmuch  as  these  assemblies 


470    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

could  not  have  been  recognized  without  admitting  in  some 
sort  the  validity  of  the  secession  and  kindred  ordinances.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  it  is  true,  intended,  before  hostilities  had  ceased,  to 
permit  the  members  of  the  Virginia  Legislature  to  meet  as  in 
fluential  individuals  for  the  purpose  of  recalling  their  State 
troops  from  the  Confederate  army.  The  surrender  of  Lee  oc 
curring  soon  after,  and  the  President's  action  having  been  mis 
understood,  he  withdrew  this  permission,  and  did  it  the  more 
readily  as  the  necessity  which  suggested  it  had  passed  com 
pletely  away.  The  department  commanders  prevented  any 
response  to  the  proclamations  of  the  Executives  in  the  three 
States  named  above,  and  President  Johnson  by  his  prompt  ap 
pointment  of  provisional  governors  ignored  or  anticipated 
their  action.  To  say  nothing  of  the  revolutionary  course  con 
templated  by  the  ex-Confederate  governors,  the  success  of 
their  plan  required  the  approval  or  at  least  the  connivance  of 
Federal  authorities. 

Still  another  manner  of  proceeding  was  for  Congress,  by 
calling  or  authorizing  conventions,  to  inaugurate  the  move 
ment  for  reconstruction ;  but  the  power  of  the  national  Legis 
lature  extends  only  to  the  passage  of  enabling  acts  for  Terri 
tories,  and  these  commonwealths  appear  to  have  been  neither 
constitutional  Territories  nor  constitutional  States.  How 
ever,  as  some  irregularity  was  inseparable  from  any  system  of 
reorganization,  the  Legislative  branch  of  Government  was  the 
authority  least  objectionable  for  controlling  informal  changes 
in  the  nature  of  the  Union.  If  powers  not  conferred  by  the 
Constitution  must  be  assumed,  it  is  better  in  the  interests  of 
civil  liberty  for  the  representatives  of  the  people  to  transcend 
the  organic  law. 

The  second  mode,  it  need  scarcely  be  observed,  was  that  em 
bodied  in  the  Executive  plan.  The  conventions  which  assem 
bled  under  encouragement  and  direction  of  President  Johnson 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  471 

had  an  opportunity  unequaled  since  the  formation  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  winning  the  gratitude  of  the  nation.  By  adopt 
ing  an  enlightened  and  humane  policy  they  could  have  fur 
nished  an  example  of  patriotism  that  would  serve  to  influence 
the  deliberations  not  only  of  the  first  assemblies  to  meet  under 
the  new  order,  but  of  all  future  legislatures  in  those  States. 
It  is  well  known  that  they  did  not  prove  equal  to  this  emer 
gency;  the  concessions  to  Northern  opinion  were  not  grace 
fully  yielded,  and  lost  much  of  their  merit  by  having  been 
extorted  from  the  fears  of  the  delegates.  In  some  instances 
the  conventions,  by  assuming  functions  of  the  ordinary  legis 
lative  character,  transcended  their  powers,  and  many  of 
them  "  repealed "  the  ordinances  without  condemning  the 
principle  of  secession.  They  amended  and  even  adopted 
constitutions  that  were  never  submitted  to  the  people. 
The  civil  rights  of  the  negro  were  abandoned  to  the 
mercy  of  those  who  had  fought  to  perpetuate  human  serv 
itude.  No  provision  was  made  for  freedmen  in  the  funda 
mental  law,  it  having  been  assumed  that  the  new  legislatures 
could  be  trusted  to  extend  justice  equally  to  all  classes  in  the 
community.  In  a  word,  those  were  disappointed  who  had 
expected  from  the  conventions  a  display  of  civic  virtues  com 
mensurate  to  the  occasion. 

The  remaining  topic,  that  is,  the  character  of  the  recon 
structed  governments  as  well  as  the  spirit  and  tendency  of 
their  legislation,  may  in  this  place  be  briefly  dismissed.  Not, 
indeed,  that  the  subject  is  unimportant,  for  it  was  mainly  upon 
this  question  that  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  justified  its  re 
fusal  to  admit  members  from  the  South,  and  vindicated  its 
rigorous  treatment  of  the  subjugated  States.  While  an  in 
vestigation  of  public  opinion  in  that  section  is  essential  to  a 
correct  understanding  of  legislative  action,  the  full,  con 
sideration  of  the  subject  belongs  properly  to  a  treatise  on 


472    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Congressional  reconstruction,  a  theme  to  which  this  essay  is 
only  introductory.  For  the  present  purpose,  therefore,  a 
brief  outline  must  suffice. 

Though  the  reconstruction  conventions  were  correctly  re 
garded  as  revolutionary,  that  character  would  not  affect  the 
legislatures  instituted  by  their  authority  if  the  people  con 
cerned  acquiesced  in  their  proceedings.  Americans  of  that 
day  were  not  altogether  indifferent  to  the  sacred  right  of 
revolution,  even  if  the  principle  was  not  so  highly  esteemed 
as  formerly.  An  objection  far  more  serious  than  the  irregular 
origin  of  these  conventions  was  the  spirit  which  animated 
Southern  legislators. 

When  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress  convened  at  its  first  ses 
sion  members  had  before  them  only  the  merest  fragments  of 
the  mass  of  testimony  subsequently  reported  by  the  Joint 
Committee  on  Reconstruction,  though  even  then  they  possessed 
evidence  of  the  temper  of  the  Southern  mind  sufficient,  they 
believed,  to  recommend  the  most  deliberate  procedure.  It 
would  not  be  difficult  to  collect  from  contemporary  literature 
proofs  of  hostility  to  the  General  Government  sufficient  to  jus 
tify  the  attitude  of  Congress  when  it  assembled  on  the  4th  of 
December,  1865.  From  various  sources  the  Northern  people 
had  caught  glimpses  of  the  actual  condition  of  affairs  within 
the  late  Confederacy.  These  manifestations  of  unfriendliness 
to  the  Union  were  enough  to  excite  suspicion,  and,  in  a 
matter  affecting  the  future  welfare  of  a  great  and  powerful 
nation,  suspicion  is  a  just  ground  for  inquiry. 

The  alacrity  with  which  the  Southern  people  rushed  to 
battle,  as  well  as  the  vigor  with  which  they  prosecuted  the 
war,  was  a  phenomenon  not  more  remarkable  than  the  una 
nimity  and  promptness  with  which  they  apparently  acquiesced 
in  the  result.  It  was  long  before  the  people  of  the  North  could 
believe  that  the  rebellion  was  anything  more  than  a  leaders' 
insurrection,  and  they  could  not  easily  be  persuaded  after  its 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  473 

close  that  those  who  had  fought  so  desperately  to  destroy,  were 
sincere  in  their  professions  of  loyalty  to,  the  Union.  It  was  not 
unnatural,  therefore,  that  the  late  adversaries  of  the  South 
would  look  with  suspicion  on  her  instant  submission.  With 
few  exceptions  Southern  statesmen  seemed  desirous  of  effect 
ing  an  early  reunion.  While  various  reasons  might  be  as 
signed  to  explain  this  dutiful  and  almost  unlimited  obedience, 
it  is  certain  that  the  argument  chiefly  relied  upon  by  the  pro 
visional  governors  was  that  it  was  only  by  such  a  course  that 
they  could  hope  soon  to  be  relieved  of  the  presence  among 
them  of  Yankee  soldiers.  Apprehension  that  more  burden- 
\  some  conditions  might  be  imposed  by  Stevens  and  other 
radical  leaders  in  Congress  was,  perhaps,  not  altogether  with 
out  influence  in  producing  this  general  acquiescence  in  the 
policy  of  the  President.1  As  every  citizen  who  engaged  in 
rebellion  had  forfeited  both  his  life  and  his  estate,  it  would 
be  prudent  temporarily  to  conceal  any  feeling  of  resentment, 
or  any  desire  of  revenge.  These  considerations  were  not 
without  influence  on  the  conduct  of  both  the  leaders  and  the 
people.  With  the  quick  upgrowth,  however,  of  a  feeling  of 
personal  safety,  encouraged,  no  doubt,  by  a  lavish  distribu 
tion  of  pardons,  and  with  an  expectation,  not  unfounded,  that 
reconciliation  would  speedily  be  followed  by  either  a  restora 
tion  of,  or  indemnity  for,  confiscated  property,  this  policy  of 
conformity  would  vanish.  Thus  under  exterior  tranquillity 
rankled  bitter  memories  of  disaster  and  defeat  nourishing  a 
state  of  unrest  which  even  the  unquestioned  influence  of  their 
late  commanders  could  not  always  keep  from  expressing  itself 
in  acts  of  violence.  However,  as  Henry  Winter  Davis  had 
foretold,  the  Southern  population  generally  put  on  the  seemly 
garb  of  peace  and  observed  the  form  of  holding  elections. 

*  See  Why  The  Solid  South?  pp.  9-10,  for  an  ingenious  explanation  of 
the  unanimity  and  promptness  with  which  the  Presidential  policy  of  re 
construction  was  accepted  by  the  South. 


474    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Notwithstanding  that  many  of  their  most  enlightened  citi 
zens  recommended,  and  that  their  most  trusted  leaders  en 
joined,  submission  to  the  new  order,  the  transition  from  a 
state  of  hostility  was  marked  even  at  the  outset  by  acts  of 
the  highest  indiscretion.  Nor  were  these  confined  to  irre 
sponsible  individuals  whose  utterances  might  have  been  justly 
regarded  as  the  momentary  inspiration  of  passion.  Some  of 
the  acts  referred  to  were  the  deliberate  convictions  of  legisla 
tive  bodies,  and,  as  these  measures  appear  to  have  escaped 
criticism,  they  may  fairly  be  supposed  to  reflect  the  sentiments 
of  the  South.  In  the  circumstances  this  was  especially  un 
fortunate,  postponing  as  it  did  the  day  of  peace  and  recon 
ciliation;  it  afforded  also  a  decent  pretext  to  the  "  Radicals," 
if  they  desired  one,  for  excluding  the  Southern  delegations 
from  Congress.  It  justified  inquiry,  and  investigation  was 
fatal  to  Southern  claims  of  universal  submission. 

Though  the  exclusion  of  representatives  undoubtedly  in 
tensified,  it  did  not  occasion  the  change  in  Southern  feeling, 
for  the  Mississippi  measures,  presently  to  be  noticed,  were 
passed  before  the  meeting  of  Congress.  Acts  of  frequent 
occurrence  tended  to  confirm  the  worst  fears  of  that 
body,  and  long  before  the  Joint  Committee  had  completed 
their  labors  they  were  supplied  with  new  species  of  vio 
lence  if  any  description  of  outrage  was  lacking  to  crown 
their  indictment.  With  due  allowance  for  the  fact  that 
during  many  years  preceding  the  war  outrages  were  much 
more  numerous  in  the  slave  than  in  the  free  States,  it  soon 
became  apparent  that  it  was  unsafe  to  leave  to  the  jus 
tice  of  Southern  courts  either  the  few  Unionists  who  had 
remained  faithful  in  that  section  or  the  recently  enfranchised 
slaves.  The  estimation  in  which  the  former  were  held  ap 
pears  in  the  fact  that  in  competition  for  office  they  were  uni 
formly  defeated  by  ex-Confederate  candidates,  sometimes  by 
unpardoned,  and  even  unrepentant  ones.  The  feeling  toward 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  475 

freedmen  was  one  of  extreme  bitterness.  Overlooking 
scattered  acts  of  violence  and  outrage  of  which  negroes  were 
generally,  though  not  always,  the  victims,  Southern  hostility 
toward  them  found  unmistakable  expression  in  the  November 
legislation  of  Mississippi.  On  the  22d  of  that  month  was 
enacted  a  law  regulating  the  relation  of  master  and  appren 
tice  in  the  case  of  "  freedmen,  free  negroes  and  mulattoes." 
Among  other  things  this  statute  provided : 

That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  ...  civil  officers  ...  in  this 
State  to  report  to  the  probate  courts  of  their  respective  counties,  semi- 
annually,  ...  all  freedmen,  free  negroes,  and  mulattoes,  under  the  age 
of  eighteen,  within  their  respective  counties,  beats  or  districts,  who  are 
orphans,  or  whose  parent  or  parents  have  not  the  means,  or  who  re 
fuse  to  provide  for  and  support  said  minors,  and  thereupon  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  said  probate  court  to  order  the  clerk  of  said  court  to  ap 
prentice  said  minors  to  some  competent  and  suitable  person,  on  such 
terms  as  the  court  may  direct,  having  a  particular  care  to  the  interest  of 
said  minors:  Provided,  That  the  former  owner  of  said  minors  shall  have 
the  preference,  when  in  the  opinion  of  the  court,  he  or  she  shall  be  a 
suitable  person  for  that  purpose. 

Sec.  2.  ...  That  the  said  court  shall  be  fully  satisfied  that  the 
person  or  persons  to  whom  said  minor  shall  be  apprenticed  shall  be  a 
suitable  person  to  have  the  charge  and  care  of  said  minor,  and  fully  to 
protect  the  interest  of  said  minor.  The  said  court  shall  require  the  said 
master  or  mistress  to  execute  bond  and  security,  payable  to  the  State  of 
Mississippi,  conditioned  that  he  or  she  shall  furnish  said  minor  with  suf 
ficient  food  and  clothing,  to  treat  said  minor  humanely,  furnish  medical 
attention  in  case  of  sickness,  teach  or  cause  to  be  taught  him  or  her  to 
read  and  write,  if  under  fifteen  years  old,  and  will  conform  to  any  law 
that  may  be  hereafter  passed  for  the  regulation  of  the  duties  and  relation 
of  master  and  apprentice:  Provided,  that  said  apprentice  shall  be  bound 
by  indenture,  in  case  of  males  until  they  are  twenty-one  years  old,  and 
in  case  of  females  until  they  are  eighteen  years  old. 

Sec.  3.  ...  That  in  the  management  and  control  of  said  appren 
tices,  said  master  or  mistress  shall  have  power  to  inflict  such  moderate 
corporeal  chastisement  as  a  father  or  guardian  is  allowed  to  inflict  on  his 
or  her  child  or  ward  at  common  law:  Provided,  That  in  no  case  shall 
cruel  or  inhuman  punishment  be  inflicted. 

Sec.  4.  ...  That  if  any  apprentice  shall  leave  the  employment  of 
his  or  her  master  or  mistress,  without  his  or  her  consent,  said  master  or 
mistress  may  pursue  and  recapture  said  apprentice,  and  bring  him  or  her 


476    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

before  any  justice  of  the  peace  of  the  county,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
remand  said  apprentice  to  the  service  of  his  or  her  master  or  mistress; 
and  in  the  event  of  a  refusal  on  the  part  of  said  apprentice  so  to  return, 
then  said  justice  shall  commit  said  apprentice  to  the  jail  of  said  county, 
on  failure  to  give  bond,  until  the  next  term  of  the  county  court;  and  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  said  court,  at  the  first  term  thereafter,  to  investigate 
said  case,  and  if  the  court  shall  be  of  opinion  that  said  apprentice  left 
the  employment  of  his  or  her  master  or  mistress  without  good  cause,  to 
order  him  or  her  to  be  punished,  as  provided  for  the  punishment  of 
hired  freedmen,  as  may  be  from  time  to  time  provided  for  by  law,  for 
desertion,  until  he  or  she  shall  agree  to  return  to  his  or  her  master  or 
mistress:  Provided,  that  the  court  may  grant  continuances,  as  in  other 
cases ;  and  provided  further,  that  if  the  court  shall  believe  that  said  ap 
prentice  had  good  cause  to  quit  his  said  master  or  mistress,  the  court 
shall  discharge  said  apprentice  from  said  indenture,  and  also  enter  a 
judgment  against  the  master  or  mistress,  for  not  more  than  one  hundred 
dollars,  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  said  appprentice,  to  be  collected  on 
execution,  as  in  other  cases. 

Sec.  5.  ...  That  if  any  person  entice  away  any  apprentice  from 
his  or  her  master  or  mistress,  or  shall  knowingly  employ  an  apprentice, 
or  furnish  him  or  her  food  or  clothing,  without  the  written  consent  of  his 
or  her  master  or  mistress,  or  shall  sell  or  give  said  apprentice  ardent 
spirits,  without  such  consent,  said  person  so  offending  shall  be  deemed 
guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor,  and  shall,  on  conviction  thereof  before 
the  county  court,  be  punished  as  provided  for  the  punishment  of  persons 
enticing  from  their  employer  hired  freedmen,  free  negroes  or  mulattoes.1 


In  the  matter  of  apprenticing  minors  it  will  be  observed 
that  the  former  owner,  when  a  person  satisfactory  to  the 
court,  was  to  have  the  preference;  in  the  event  of  his  death 
his  widow  or  other  member  of  his  family  was,  if  deemed 
suitable,  to  have  the  preference  in  re-apprenticing  the  minor. 
When  there  was  no  record  testimony  of  the  date  of  birth, 
judges  of  county  courts  were  empowered  to  fix  the  age  of 
the  minor.  The  act  was  to  go  into  force  immediately  after 
its  passage.2 

The  act  of  November  25,  conferring  civil  rights  on 
emancipated  slaves,  provided: 

1  Laws  of  Mississippi,  pp.  86-88.        f  Ibid.,  pp.  89-90. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  477 

That  all  freedmen,  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  may  sue  and  be  sued, 
implead  and  be  impleaded  in  all  the  courts  of  law  and  equity  of  this 
State,  and  may  acquire  personal  property  and  choses  in  action,  by  de 
scent  or  purchase,  and  may  dispose  of  the  same,  in  the  same  manner,  and 
to  the  same  extent  that  white  persons  may ;  Provided,  that  the  provisions 
of  this  section  [i]  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  allow  any  freedman, 
free  negro  or  mulatto,  to  rent  or  lease  any  lands  or  tenements,  except 
in  incorporated  towns  or  cities  in  which  places  the  corporate  authorities 
shall  control  the  same. 

Sec.  5.  ...  That  every  freedman,  free  negro  and  mulatto,  shall, 
on  the  second  Monday  of  January,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
six,  and  annually  thereafter,  have  a  lawful  home  or  employment,  and 
shall  have  written  evidence  thereof,  as  follows,  to  wit :  if  living  in  any  in 
corporated  city,  town  or  village,  a  license  from  the  mayor  thereof,  and  if 
living  outside  of  any  incorporated  city,  town  or  village,  from  the  mem 
ber  of  the  board  of  police  of  his  beat,  authorizing  him  or  her  to  do 
irregular  and  job  work,  or  a  written  contract,  as  provided  in  section  six 
of  this  act,  which  licenses  may  be  revoked  for  cause,  at  any  time,  by  the 
authority  granting  the  same. 

Sec.  6.  ...  That  all  contracts  for  labor  made  with  freedmen,  free 
negroes  and  mulattoes,  for  a  longer  period  than  one  month  shall  be  in 
writing  and  in  duplicate,  attested  and  read  to  said  freedman,  free  negro 
or  mulatto,  by  a  beat,  city  or  county  officer,  or  two  disinterested  white 
persons  of  the  county  in  which  the  labor  is  to  be  performed,  of  which 
each  party  shall  have  one;  and  said  contracts  shall  be  taken  and  held  as 
entire  contracts,  and  if  the  laborer  shall  quit  the  service  of  the  employer, 
before  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service,  without  good  cause  he  shall 
forfeit  his  wages  for  that  year,  up  to  the  time  of  quitting. 

Sec.  7.  ...  That  every  civil  officer  shall,  and  every  person  may 
arrest  and  carry  back  to  his  or  her  legal  employer  any  freedman,  free 
negro  or  mulatto,  who  shall  have  quit  the  service  of  his  or  her  em 
ployer  before  the  expiration  of  his  or  her  term  of  service  without  good 
cause,  and  said  officer  and  person  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  for  arresting 
and  carrying  back  every  deserting  employee  aforesaid,  the  sum  of  five 
dollars,  and  ten  cents  per  mile  from  the  place  of  arrest  to  the  place  of  de 
livery,  and  the  same  shall  be  paid  by  the  employer,  and  held  as  a  set-off 
for  so  much  against  the  wages  of  said  deserting  employee :  Provided, 
that  said  arrested  party  after  being  so  returned  may  appeal  to  a  justice 
of  the  peace  or  member  of  the  board  of  the  police  of  the  county,  who  on 
notice  to  the  alleged  employer,  shall  try  summarily  whether  said  ap 
pellant  is  legally  employed  by  the  alleged  employer  and  has  good  cause 
to  quit  said  employer ;  either  party  shall  have  the  right  of  appeal  to  the 
county  court,  pending  which  the  alleged  deserter  shall  be  remanded  to  the 


478    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

alleged  employer,  or  otherwise  disposed  of  as  shall  be  right  and  just,  and 
the  decision  of  the  county  court  shall  be  final. 

Sec.  8.  ...  That  upon  affidavit  made  by  the  employer  of  any  freed- 
man,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  or  other  credible  person,  before  any  justice 
of  the  peace  or  member  of  the  board  of  police,  that  any  freedman,  free 
negro  or  mulatto,  legally  employed  by  said  employer,  has  illegally  de 
serted  said  employment,  such  justice  of  the  peace  or  member  of  the 
board  of  police,  shall  issue  his  warrant  or  warrants,  returnable  before 
himself,  or  other  such  officer,  directed  to  any  sheriff,  constable  or  special 
deputy,  commanding  him  to  arrest  said  deserter  and  return  him  or  her  to 
said  employer,  and  the  like  proceedings  shall  be  had  as  provided  in  the  pre 
ceding  section ;  and  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  officer  to  whom  such  war 
rant  shall  be  directed  to  execute  said  warrant  in  any  county  of  this  State, 
and  that  said  warrant  may  be  transmitted  without  indorsement  to  any  like 
officer  of  another  county,  to  be  executed  and  returned  as  aforesaid,  and 
the  said  employer  shall  pay  the  cost  of  said  warrants  and  arrest  and  re 
turn,  which  shall  be  set  off  for  so  much  against  the  wages  of  said  deserter. 

Sec.  9.  ...  That  if  any  person  shall  persuade  or  attempt  to  per 
suade,  entice  or  cause  any  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  to  desert 
from  the  legal  employment  of  any  person,  before  the  expiration  of  his  or 
her  term  of  service,  or  shall  knowingly  employ  any  such  deserting  freed 
man,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  or  shall  knowingly  give  or  sell  to  any  such 
deserting  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  any  food,  raiment  or  other 
thing,  he  or  she  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  conviction 
shall  be  fined  not  less  than  twenty-five  dollars  and  not  more  than  two 
hundred  dollars  and  the  costs,  and  if  said  fine  and  costs  shall  not  be  im 
mediately  paid,  the  court  shall  sentence  said  convict  to  not  exceeding  two 
months'  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail,  and  he  or  she  shall  moreover 
be  liable  to  the  party  injured  in  damages:  Provided,  if  any  person  shall, 
or  shall  attempt  to  persuade,  entice,  or  cause  any  freedman,  free  negro 
or  mulatto,  to  desert  from  any  legal  employment  of  any  person  with  the 
view  to  employ  said  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  without  the  limits 
of  this  State,  such  person,  on  conviction,  shall  be  fined  not  less  than  fifty 
dollars  and  not  more  than  five  hundred  dollars  and  costs,  and  if  said 
fine  and  costs  shall  not  be  immediately  paid,  the  court  shall  sentence  said 
convict  to  not  exceeding  six  months'  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail. 

This  arbitrary  and  cruel  act,  wholly  inconsistent  with  a 
state  of  personal  freedom,  by  forbidding  the  lease  to  freed- 
men,  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  of  either  lands  or  tenements 
outside  of  cities,  not  only  made  of  the  emancipated  slaves  a 
landless  and  homeless  class,  but  deprived  them  of  all  hope  of 
rising  out  of  that  condition.  On  the  second  Monday  of 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  479 

January,  1866,  less  than  two  months  after  the  passage  of  this 
act,  and  annually  thereafter,  they  were  required  to  have  a 
lawful  home  or  employment,  and  to  possess  written  evidence 
thereof.  This  requirement  extended  to  the  doing  of  even 
irregular  and  job  work,  and  a  written  contract  for  all  labor 
for  a  longer  period  than  one  month.  If  the  laborer,  without 
good  cause,  left  the  service  of  his  employer  before  the  expira 
tion  of  his  term,  he  forfeited  all  wages  for  that  year  up  to 
the  time  of  quitting.  As  the  freedmen  were  wholly  without 
representation  in  the  State  judiciary,  the  master  class  could 
in  every  instance  determine  the  sufficiency  of  the  cause.  The 
intermarriage  of  the  races  was  made  a  felony,  and  the  white 
or  the  black  person  convicted  of  that  crime  was  to  be  con 
fined  in  the  State  penitentiary  for  life.1  Southern  whites  had 
no  objection  to  the  personal  attendance,  even  in  first-class 
railway  coaches,  of  colored  servants,  but  as  other  than  a  serv 
ant,  the  freedman  was  considered  exceedingly  obnoxious, 
and  this  sentiment  was  enacted  immediately  before  either  of 
the  statutes  mentioned,  into  a  law  which  excluded  negroes 
from  riding  in  cars  of  the  first  class.2 

There  was  some  apprehension  lest  this  and  similar  legisla 
tion  would  lead  to  bloody  outbreaks.  The  colored  race  gen 
erally  was  growing  distrustful  and  discontented.  The  fear 
of  violence  was  probably  not  unconnected  with  the  passage 
of  a  law  approved  November  29,  which  provided : 

Sec.  i.  ...  That  no  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  not  in  the 
military  service  of  the  United  States  Government,  and  not  licensed  so 
to  do  by  the  board  of  police  of  his  or  her  county,  shall  keep  or  carry 
fire-arms  of  any  kind,  or  any  ammunition,  dirk,  or  bowie-knife,  and  on 
conviction  thereof,  in  the  county  court,  shall  be  punished  by  fine,  not  ex 
ceeding  ten  dollars,  and  pay  the  costs  of  such  proceedings,  and  all  such 
arms  or  ammunition  shall  be  forfeited  to  the  informer,  and  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  every  civil  and  military  officer  to  arrest  any  freedman,  free 

1  Laws  of  Mississippi,  1865,  pp.  82-86. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  231. 


480    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

negro  or  mulatto,  found  with  any  such  arms  or  ammunition,  and  cause 
him  or  her  to  be  committed  for  trial  in  default  of  bail. 

Sec.  2.  ...  That  any  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  committing 
riots,  routs,  affrays,  trespasses,  malicious  mischief  and  cruel  treatment  to 
animals,  seditious  speeches,  insulting  gestures,  language  or  acts,  or  as 
saults  on  any  person,  disturbance  of  peace,  exercising  the  function  of  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  without  a  license  from  some  regularly  organized 
church,  vending  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors,  or  committing  any 
other  misdemeanor,  the  punishment  of  which  is  not  specifically  provided 
for  by  law,  shall,  upon  conviction  thereof,  in  the  county  court,  be  fined 
not  less  than  ten  dollars  and  not  more  than  one  hundred  dollars,  and 
may  be  imprisoned,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  not  exceeding  thirty 
days. 

Sec.  3.  ...  That  if  any  white  person  shall  sell,  lend  or  give  to  any 
freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  any  fire-arms,  dirk  or  bowie-knife,  or 
ammunition,  or  any  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors,  such  person  or 
persons  so  offending,  upon  conviction  thereof,  in  the  county  court  of  his 
or  her  county,  shall  be  fined,  not  exceeding  fifty  dollars,  and  may  be  im 
prisoned  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  not  exceeding  thirty  days.  .  .  . 

Sec.  4.  ...  That  all  the  penal  and  criminal  laws  now  in  force  in 
this  State,  defining  offences,  and  prescribing  the  mode  of  punishment  for 
crimes  and  misdemeanors  committed  by  slaves,  free  negroes  or  mulattoes, 
be  and  the  same  are  hereby  re-enacted,  and  declared  to  be  in  full  force 
and  effect,  against  freedmen,  free  negroes  and  mulattoes,  except  so  far  as 
the  mode  and  manner  of  trial  and  punishment  have  been  changed  or 
altered  by  law. 

Sec.  5.  ...  That  if  any  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  convicted 
of  any  of  the  misdemeanors  provided  against  in  this  act,  shall  fail  or 
refuse,  for  the  space  of  five  days  after  conviction,  to  pay  the  fine  and 
costs  imposed,  such  person  shall  be  hired  out  by  the  sheriff  or  other 
officer,  at  public  outcry,  to  any  white  person  who  will  pay  said  fine  and 
all  costs,  and  take  such  convict  for  the  shortest  time.1 

Though  the  General  Government  was  solemnly  pledged  to 
guarantee  the  entire  freedom  of  the  negro,  he  was  completely 
disarmed  by  these  statutes,  which  were  to  be  administered  by 
men  who  had  been  but  recently  serving  the  Confederate  cause. 
The  purpose  of  the  last  measure  is  rendered  clear  by  Section  4, 
which  reenacted  against  freedmen  all  the  penal  and  criminal 
laws  that  had  applied  to  slaves.  It  revived,  in  short,  the  black 
code  of  ante  helium  times. 

'Laws  of  Mississippi,  1865,  pp.  165-167. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  481 

Persons  convicted  of  vagrancy,  under  an  amendatory  act, 
approved  November  24,  1865,  were  subject  to  a  fine  not  ex 
ceeding  one  hundred  dollars  and  costs,  besides  a  maximum 
imprisonment  of  ten  days.  The  first  section,  which  defined 
who  were  vagrants,  was  general  in  its  application.  The  pro 
visions  especially  affecting  freedmen  were  the  following: 

Sec.  2.  ...  That  all  freedmen,  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  in  this 
State,  over  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  found  on  the  second  Monday  in 
January,  1866,  or  thereafter,  with  no  lawful  employment  or  business,  or 
found  unlawfully  assembling  themselves  together  either  in  the  day  or 
night  time,  and  all  white  persons  so  assembling  with  freedmen,  free 
negroes  or  mulattoes,  or  usually  associating  with  freedmen,  free  negroes 
or  mulattoes  on  terms  of  equality,  or  living  in  adultery  or  fornication 
with  a  freedwoman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  shall  be  deemed  vagrants, 
and  on  conviction  thereof  shall  be  fined  in  the  sum  of  not  exceeding,  in 
the  case  of  a  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  fifty  dollars,  and  a  white 
man  two  hundred  dollars,  and  imprisoned  at  the  discretion  of  the  court, 
the  free  negro  not  exceeding  ten  days,  and  the  white  man  not  exceeding 
six  months. 

Sec.  5.  ...  That  all  fines  and  forfeitures  collected  under  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act  shall  be  paid  into  the  county  treasury  for  general 
county  purposes,  and  in  case  any  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  shall 
fail  for  five  days  after  the  imposition  of  any  fine  or  forfeiture  upon  him 
or  her  for  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  to  pay  the  same, 
that  it  shall  be,  and  is  hereby  made  the  duty  of  the  sheriff  of  the  proper 
county  to  hire  out  said  freedman,  free  negro  or  mulatto,  to  any  persons 
who  will,  for  the  shortest  period  of  service,  pay  said  fine  or  forfeiture  and 
all  costs :  Provided,  a  preference  shall  be  given  to  the  employer,  if  there 
be  one,  in  which  case  the  employer  shall  be  entitled  to  deduct  and  retain 
the  amount  so  paid  from  the  wages  of  such  freedman,  free  negro  or 
mulatto,  then  due  or  to  become  due;  and  in  case  such  freedman,  free 
negro  or  mulatto  cannot  be  hired  out,  he  or  she  may  be  dealt  with  as  a 
pauper.1 

No  extended  knowledge  of  human  affairs  is  necessary  to 
perceive  that,  by  a  rigorous  enforcement  of  these  laws,  the 
great  mass  of  freedmen  could  be  easily  restored  to  a  state  of 
practical  servitude  during  the  season  when  their  labor  was 

*Laws  of  Mississippi,  1865,  pp.  90-93. 


482    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

desirable,  and  that  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  their  condi 
tion  would  be  little  better  than  that  of  the  pauper.  That  the 
two  races  were  regarded  as  equal  before  the  law  will  scarcely 
be  contended.  An  act  approved  December  i  made  it  a  mis 
demeanor  in  certain  cases  for  either  a  white  or  a  black  man 
to  hunt  hogs  or  other  stock  upon  any  lands  other  than  his 
own;  the  white  man  was  liable,  on  conviction,  to  a  fine  of 
from  $100  to  $500,  or  imprisonment  from  one  to  three 
months  in  the  county  jail,  or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court.  For  the  same  offence  no  imprisonment  was  provided 
in  the  case  of  freedmen,  and  the  fine  was  fixed  between  $10 
and  $20.  The  latter,  however,  could  be  hired  at  public  out 
cry  to  the  lowest  bidder  who  would  pay  the  fine  and  cost. 
The  employer,  it  was  provided,  was  to  have  the  preference 
in  hiring.1 

The  Legislature  first  to  meet  under  the  reformed  govern 
ment  not  only  expressed  for  the  people  of  Mississippi  no 
profound  regret  for  resisting  the  Federal  authority,  but  left 
no  doubt  in  what  estimation  it  held  those  who  fought  for 
Southern  independence  by  releasing  ex-Confederate  soldiers 
from  indictments  for  misdemeanors  committed  before  the 
war.2  In  perfect  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  this  act  of  oblivion 
was  one  which  changed  the  name  of  Jones  County  to  that  of 
Davis,  and  the  name  of  Ellisville  in  the  same  county  to  Lees- 
burg.3  This,  it  should  be  observed,  was  only  three  days 
before  the  meeting  of  Congress. 

This  legislation,  by  no  means  the  most  severe  enacted 
under  the  new  governments,  marks  in  Southern  sentiment  a 
reaction  no  less  unexpected  than  the  complete  and  almost  in 
stantaneous  submission  following  the  surrender  of  Johnston. 
The  sudden  change  in  opinion  has  been  ingeniously  and  even 

'Laws  of  Mississippi,  1865,  pp.  199-200. 
1  Ibid.,  pp.  210-211. 
'Ibid.,  p.  240. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  483 

absurdly  accounted  for.  In  the  latter  class  of  explanations 
may  be  included  the  notion  that  the  people  of  the  South  were 
exasperated  by  the  interference  of  Congress,  that  body,  as 
already  mentioned,  not  having  convened  till  after  the  passage 
of  the  obnoxious  laws.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  not  gener 
ally  known,  even  in  Mississippi,  that  the  President  in  the 
work  of  reorganization  had  resolved  to  ignore  the  coordinate 
political  branch  of  Government;  he  had,  indeed,  fairly  signi 
fied  to  Governor  Sharkey  the  position  that  he  intended  to 
assume,  but  his  communication  to  that  official,  which  was 
never  designed  for  publication,  was  not  immediately  circu 
lated  through  the  State;  the  knowledge,  therefore,  that  the 
Executive  had  concluded  to  oppose  the  policy  of  Congress 
could  not  have  been  a  factor  in  disturbing  the  brief  repose  of 
the  seceding  States,  and  we  must  seek  elsewhere  for  the  cause. 
In  many  of  the  insurgent  commonwealths  rebellion  had  in 
volved  almost  every  citizen  in  the  guilt  of  treason,  almost 
every  estate  in  the  liability  to  confiscation.  The  President  and 
his  advisers  hoped  by  a  generous  distribution  of  pardons  to 
win  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  this  numerous  and  influen 
tial  class,  and  to  leave  to  "  Radical "  members  of  Congress 
the  ungrateful  office  of  punishment.  This  policy  contributed 
to  awaken  the  undaunted  spirit  of  the  South,  and  was,  no 
doubt,  an  element  in  unsettling  the  conditions  that  prevailed 
after  the  surrender.  Northern  magnanimity,  which  was  con 
tent  to  regard  the  defeat  of  secession  as  sufficient  discipline 
for  the  rebellious  States,  and  the  attitude  of  the  Democratic 
party  were  also  important  influences  in  misleading  the  South. 
More  responsible  for  the  reaction,  however,  than  any  of  these 
was  the  unsatisfactory  administration  of  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau.  The  testimony  of  General  Grant  can  be  cited  to 
prove  that,  while  accomplishing  much  that  was  desirable,  this 
institution  was  retarding  somewhat  the  progress  of  recon 
struction.  In  a  hurried  tour  of  the  late  Confederate  States 


484    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

he  had  observed  that  it  was  not  conducted  with  good  judg 
ment  or  economy,  and  remarked  in  his  report  to  the  President 
that  "  the  belief  widely  spread  among  the  freedmen  of  the 
Southern  States,  that  the  lands  of  their  former  owners  will, 
at  least  in  part,  be  divided  among  them,  has  come  from  the 
agents  of  this  bureau.  This  belief  is  seriously  interfering 
with  the  willingness  of  the  freedmen  to  make  contracts  for 
the  coming  year.  .  .  .  Many,  perhaps  the  majority,  of 
the  agents  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  advise  the  freedmen 
that  by  their  own  industry  they  must  expect  to  live.  To  this 
end  they  endeavor  to  secure  employment  for  them,  and  to 
see  that  both  contracting  parties  comply  with  their  engage 
ments.  In  some  instances,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the  freedman's 
mind  does  not  seem  to  be  disabused  of  the  idea  that  a  freed- 
man  has  the  right  to  live  without  care  or  provision  for  the 
future.  The  effect  of  the  belief  in  division  of  lands  is  idle 
ness  and  accumulation  in  camps,  towns,  and  cities."  * 

Though  its  management  was  open  to  criticism,  the  neces 
sity  for  the  existence  of  the  bureau,  to  afford  at  least  tempo 
rary  protection  to  the  newly  enfranchised,  was  perceived  and 
acknowledged  by  the  General.  It  probably  accorded  well 
with  the  political  aspirations  of  bureau  agents  to  create  in 
the  minds  of  freedmen  a  belief  that  the  Government  would 
give  to  each  of  them  "  forty  acres  of  land  and  a  mule  ";  for 
this  expectation  would  be  a  pledge  of  allegiance  to  the  Federal 
representative,  without  the  approval  of  whom  no  negro  could 
seriously  hope  to  secure  so  enviable  a  start  in  his  career  of 
freedom. 

That  confusion  would  follow  the  violent  overthrow  of  a 
long-established  industrial  system  was  to  be  expected,  and  it 
was  not  unnatural  for  the  South  to  ascribe  to  the  influence 
of  bureau  agents  much  of  the  mischief  inseparable  from  im 
mediate  emancipation.  While  the  complaints  of  the  late  in- 
1  Ann.  Cycl.,  1866,  p.  132. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  485 

surgents  were  commonly  considered  with  deference,  it  was 
scarcely  to  be  expected  that  they  would  not  sometimes  be 
despised,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  impute  to  their  discontent 
every  outrage  reported  to  the  officers  of  the  bureau  or  the 
commanders  of  the  posts.  Though  Federal  representatives 
as  a  rule  labored  faithfully  to  restore  and  preserve  order,  it 
would  be  singular  if  some  of  them,  assuming  the  arrogant 
manner  of  conquerors,  did  not  occasionally  depart  from  that 
system  of  conciliation  which  the  generous  nature  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln  had  adopted. 

These  were  among  the  causes  of  the  Southern  reaction. 
It  is  no  justification  of  these  severe  and  even  cruel  enactments 
to  show,  as  Mr.  Herbert  has  done,  that  similar  laws  dis 
graced  the  statute  books  of  many  Northern  States.  In  the 
settlement  then  in  progress  the  Southern  people  conceded 
nothing  of  importance  that  was  not  won  in  the  war,  and  if 
they  were  as  sincere  in  their  desire  for  reunion  as  some  writers 
contend,  they  should  not  have  feared  the  paradox  of  improv 
ing  by  their  example  the  ancient  legislation  of  the  free  States, 
or  have  been  alarmed  at  the  innovation  of  reducing  to  prac 
tice  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  was  considerable  ground 
for  complaint  because  of  the  influence  of  many  employees  of 
the  bureau  in  demoralizing  the  Southern  system  of  labor,  but 
the  further  punishment  of  a  race  that  had  been  trodden  down 
by  oppressive  generations  does  not  commend  itself  as  either 
a  humane  or  an  enlightened  remedy;  besides,  the  South  was 
greatly  indebted  to  the  fidelity  of  the  negro,  who  during  the 
war  possessed,  without  abusing,  the  opportunity  as  well  as  the 
capacity  for  mischief.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  some 
obligation  to  Northern  men  for  their  magnanimity,  and  under 
wiser  counsels  their  wishes,  and  even  their  prejudices,  would 
have  been  respected.  In  the  victorious  section  public  opinion, 
then  in  the  formative  stage,  was  watching  anxiously  the 


486    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

progress  and  the  proceedings  of  the  new  governments.  Ex 
cept  a  few  extremists,  the  voters  of  the  loyal  States  did  not 
dream  at  that  time,  as  was  persistently  asserted  at  the  South, 
of  forcing  negro  suffrage  on  the  rebellious  States.  They 
did,  however,  desire  to  see  embodied  in  the  new  State  con 
stitutions  such  provisions  as  would  establish  before  the  law 
the  equality  of  all  classes. 

While  the  policy  of  President  Johnson  did  not  altogether 
escape  criticism  at  the  South,  so  general  and  so  prompt 
was  the  acquiescence  in  his  plan,  that  when  Congress  con 
vened  nearly  all  the  States  recently  in  rebellion  had  remodeled 
their  governments  and  elected  members  of  Congress  who 
were  at  the  national  capital  waiting  to  be  admitted  to  seats. 
Without  separately  considering  the  new  establishments,  they 
may  be  described  concisely  and  with  sufficient  accuracy  as 
governments  differing  but  little  from  those  extinguished  by 
the  fall  of  the  Confederacy.  The  members  of  the  former,  it 
is  true,  had  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance,  and  the  influence  of 
that  act  upon  their  conduct  will  presently  be  noticed.  Though 
it  certainly  was  not  the  original  intention,  and  appears  never 
to  have  become  the  fixed  purpose  of  Mr.  Johnson  to  entrust 
to  enemies  of  the  Government  the  work  of  restoring  the  in 
surgent  States,  the  result  of  his  endeavors  was  that  recon 
struction  was  left  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  had  attempted  to  destroy  the  Union.  It  was  precisely 
such  a  contingency  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  in  mind  when  he 
declared  in  his  message  of  December  8,  1863,  that,  "  An 
attempt  to  guarantee  and  protect  a  revived  State  government, 
constructed  in  whole  or  in  preponderating  part  from  the  very 
element  against  whose  hostility  and  violence  it  is  to  be  pro 
tected,  is  simply  absurd."  l 

This  deliberate  statement,  as  well  as  the  subsequent  admin 
istrative  acts  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  sufficiently  disposes  of  the  no- 
*  Ann.  Cycl.,  1863,  pp.  780-781. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  487 

tion  that  he  favored  a  rather  loose  system  of  reconstruction. 
Without  attempting  to  distinguish  between  theories  really 
identical,  there  was  still  a  considerable  difference  in  the  re 
organization  effected  under  the  two  Executives.  The  condi 
tions  which  confronted  the  President  and  Congress  in  De 
cember,  1865,  could  have  arisen  only  from  disregarding  the 
principle  laid  down  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  From  his  solemn  and 
reiterated  declarations  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  would 
have  rejected  without  hesitation  any  system  of  which  the 
first  fruits  were  little  more  than  a  nullification  of  his  decree 
of  emancipation. 

Notwithstanding  his  tireless  threats  of  severity,  we  can 
easily  perceive  in  the  reorganization  directed  by  Mr.  Johnson, 
a  noticeable  falling  'back  from  the  Executive  plan  of  December, 
1863,  as  announced  and  enforced  by  his  predecessor.  Nor  did 
this  retrogression  proceed  from  the  greater  humanity,  but 
rather  from  the  greater  weakness  of  the  new  President.  Even 
in  the  matter  of  fealty  there  was  a  difference;  for  while  the 
conflict  was  still  doubtful,  the  taking  of  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  General  Government  was  a  serious  step  for  the  Southern 
Unionist,  because  the  record  thereafter  singled  him  out,  if  not 
for  destruction,  at  least  for  annoyance,  or  for  punishment  by 
the  friends  of  secession,  and,  perhaps,  the  oath  then  effected 
some  such  object  as  it  was  designed  to  accomplish.  When 
war  had  ceased,  however,  there  was  no  longer  a  choice  of 
sides,  and  thenceforth  universal  swearing  as  an  instrument 
of  government  became  practically  worthless.  It  was  not  re 
garded,  at  all  events,  as  an  efficient  security  for  the  future. 
Mr.  Johnson  probably  continued  to  exact  oaths  of  allegiance 
because  they  were  formerly  of  value  in  distinguishing  the 
friends  from  the  enemies  of  the  Government.  Though  pro 
fessing  the  same  general  opinion  on  the  subject  of  amnesty, 
the  principles  on  which  the  two  Presidents  granted  pardons 
were  sufficiently  distinct. 


488    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

We  have  seen  that  President  Johnson,  who  had  once  de 
clared  that  "  rebels  "  should  take  a  back  seat  in  the  work  of 
reconstruction,  so  far  changed  his  opinion  that  he  subse 
quently  said  the  people  must  be  trusted  in  the  restoration  of 
their  governments;  he  likewise  modified  his  early  impressions 
as  to  the  permanence  of  the  establishments  instituted  under 
his  predecessor,  for  it  was  his  original  opinion  that  those 
governments  were  merely  provisional  in  their  nature,  and 
would  require  the  confirmation  or  the  approval  of  Congress. 
Ultimately,  however,  he  came  to  regard  himself  as  the  judge 
of  their  sufficiency.  The  evidence  of  this  is  conclusive.  In  a 
telegram  of  July  14,  1865,  to  Governor  Sharkey,  Secretary 
Seward  said : 

"  The  government  of  the  State  [Mississippi]  will  be  pro 
visional  only  until  the  civil  authorities  shall  be  restored,  with 
the  approval  of  Congress.  Meanwhile  military  authority 
cannot  be  withdrawn."  l 

If  it  be  contended  that  Mr.  Seward  made  this  important 
declaration  upon  his  personal  responsibility  the  argument 
fails,  because  in  a  dispatch  to  Governor  Marvin,  of  Florida, 
dated  September  12,  1865,  nearly  two  months  later,  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  repeated  the  substance  of  the  message  in  lan 
guage  even  more  explicit.  On  that  occasion  he  said :  "  It 
must,  however,  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  restoration 
to  which  your  proclamation  refers  will  be  subject  to  the  de 
cision  of  Congress."  2 

The  determination  of  President  Johnson  to  retain  the  mem 
bers  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  would  indicate  his  original  in 
tention  of  applying  to  the  subjugated  States  the  system 
adopted  by  his  predecessor.  The  influence  which  led  to  the 
modification  of  the  method  of  enforcing  without  abandoning 
the  principles  underlying  that  plan  it  is  not  easy  to  discover. 

1  Gorham's  Life  of  Stanton,  Vol.  II.  p.  255. 
•  McPherson's  Pol.  Hand-Book,  1868,  p.  25. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  489 

His  change  of  attitude  toward  the  South  has  been  variously 
explained.  By  Mr.  Elaine  it  has  been  ascribed  to  the  flattery 
of  Southern  leaders,  as  well  as  to  the  personal  influence  of 
Secretary  Seward,  whose  wide  culture,  and  consequent  hu 
manity,  would  favor  a  policy  of  conciliation.  Without  intend 
ing  to  underestimate  the  insinuating  address  of  the  New 
York  statesman  it  may  be  observed  that  his  powers  of  persua 
sion  appear  to  have  exerted  themselves  with  most  success  in 
the  direction  of  the  President's  inclination.  The  attention  of 
Southern  leaders,  a  class  of  men  by  whom  the  President  had 
hitherto  been  ignored,  deserves,  however,  to  be  noticed  in  any 
enumeration  of  even  the  probable  cause  of  the  change.  An 
other  theory  has  it  that  Mr.  Johnson  both  feared  and  hated 
several  of  the  leading  Republicans,  because  of  their  connection 
with  a  movement  to  procure  his  resignation  from  the  Vice- 
Presidency, -a  station  which,  they  believed,  he  had  disgraced  by 
appearing  in  an  intoxicated  state  to  take  the  oath  of  office. 
His  desire  to  punish  those  who  had  constituted  themselves 
custodians  of  the  national  dignity,  it  is  asserted,  was  a  princi 
pal  motive  in  his  surrender  to  the  South.  A  more  reasonable 
explanation  of  the  change  which  occurred  in  the  President's 
attitude  toward  his  own  section  is  that  offered  by  Dr. 
Chadsey,  who  regards  Mr.  Johnson  as  an  inconsistent  advo 
cate  of  State  Sovereignty.1  In  this  principle  he  believed  as 
firmly  as  Jefferson  Davis  himself,  though  unlike  the  Confed 
erate  chieftain  he  refused,  by  stopping  short  of  secession,  to 
accept  its  logical  results.  Nearly  all  his  administrative  acts 
are  those  which  might  have  been  expected  from  a  Democrat 
of  the  strict  construction  school,  and  Andrew  Johnson  never 
professed  allegiance  to  any  other  political  party. 

The  governments  of  which  the  reorganization  has  been 
described  in  the  preceding  pages  continued  in  operation  until 
suspended  by  the  Reconstruction  Act  of  March  2,  1867. 

1  President  Johnson  and  Reconstruction,  pp.  33-34- 


49o    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Except  Texas  all  these  establishments,  as  previously  observed, 
had  sent  members  to  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress.  Their  claims 
to  seats,  it  is  well  known,  were  completely  ignored,  and  a 
select  body,  consisting  of  nine  members  from  the  lower  and 
six  from  the  upper  House,  was  appointed  to  investigate  the 
condition  of  the  late  Confederate  States,  and  to  report  whether 
any  of  them  were  entitled  to  representation  in  either  branch 
of  Congress.  With  the  conclusions  of  the  celebrated  Joint 
Committee  this  essay  is  not  concerned  further  than  to  ob 
serve  that  on  the  recommendation  of  the  majority  the  Tennes 
see  delegation  was  admitted  on  the  24th  of  July,  1866.  Long 
before  that  event,  however,  the  task  of  restoring  the  Union 
had  been  taken  altogether  out  of  Executive  hands. 

If  we  reflect  how  much  swifter  in  a  political  organism  is  the 
progress  of  ruin  than  that  of  repair,  and  consider  that  four 
years  had  been  abandoned  to  the  destruction  and  disorders  of 
civil  war,  we  cannot  but  be  surprised  at  the  attempt  of  the 
President,  single-handed,  to  adapt  and  execute  in  less  than 
three  months  a  series  of  measures  designed  to  restore  tran 
quillity  and  revive  prosperity  among  the  impoverished  in 
habitants  of  a  wasted  country.  In  this  view  his  failure  in  the 
work  of  reconstruction  can  excite  little  astonishment.  One 
reason  for  this  precipitate  action  was  a  desire  to  reunite  the 
sections  before  the  meeting  of  Congress,  and  it  was  so  far 
a  praiseworthy  if  not  a  prudent  course  to  adopt.  But  had 
he  proceeded  ever  so  leisurely  there  would  still  have  existed 
undoubted  obstacles  to  success.  To  say  that  he  was  lacking 
in  the  tact  of  his  predecessor,  that  he  was  naturally  of  an 
obstinate  and  even  of  a  combative  disposition,  and  that  he 
possessed  defects,  both  of  temper  and  judgment,  would 
be  merely  to  repeat  a  few  trite  observations.1  Conditions 
were  rapidly  changing,  but  with  Mr.  Johnson,  conditions 

*In  this  connection  his  repudiation  of  the  Sherman-Johnston  agree 
ment  will  occur  to  the  reader. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  491 

passed  for  almost  nothing,  though  in  reality  circumstances 
make  legislative  acts  beneficial  or  otherwise.  Like  the  meas 
ures  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress  for  restoring  the  Union, 
those  of  Mr.  Johnson  may  be  carefully  examined  without  dis 
covering  any  considerable  traces  of  originality.  Indeed, 
if  we  except  President  Lincoln,  this  entire  period  seems  to 
have  been  somewhat  lacking  in  constructive  statesmanship, 
though  no  branch  of  the  public  service  was  without  officials  of 
integrity,  judgment  and  ability. 

In  the  course  of  the  preceding  pages  the  inaugurals,  the 
messages,  the  letters  and  other  communications  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln  have  been  freely  quoted  to  show  his  opinions  on  all  of 
the  principal  and  most  of  the  subordinate  phases  of  recon 
struction.  To  complete  the  design  of  this  inquiry,  there 
remains  to  be  considered  but  a  single  topic  related  to  the 
main  theme,  namely,  the  limitations  of  the  Presidential  plan 
for  restoring  the  Union.  Many  of  these  defects  having  been 
incidentally  noticed,  a  general  recapitulation  does  not  appear 
to  be  required,  and  the  subject,  it  is  believed,  may  be  appro 
priately  concluded  by  an  examination  of  those  features  of 
the  Executive  system  which  the  narrative  has  not  hitherto 
sufficiently  emphasized. 

This  summary  disclaims,  however,  any  intention  of  at 
tempting  the  absurdity  of  testing  the  statesmanship  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  by  contrasting  a  method  of  reconstruction  pro 
posed  in  1863  with  that  deemed  adequate  by  Congress  to  meet 
the  changed  conditions  of  1867.  We  may,  indeed,  fairly  and 
even  profitably  compare  the  sentiments  of  the  two  political 
departments  in  the  summer  of  1864,  when,  for  the  first  time 
during  the  war,  they  were  arrayed  in  opposition  on  a  funda 
mental  policy  of  civil  administration.  Because  of  its  variance 
with  received  notions  of  representative  government,  the  so- 
called  "  ten  per  cent,  principle  "  will  be  first  considered. 

The  proportion  of  the  political  people  that  Mr.  Lincoln 


492    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

offered  to  recognize  as  constituting  a  State  encountered,  prob 
ably,  more  opposition  than  any  single  feature  of  his  plan. 
While  its  merits  and  its  defects  were  equally  evident,  the  lat 
ter,  as  might  be  expected,  were  given  by  its  adversaries  the 
place  of  prominence  in  all  their  criticisms.  Exception  was 
taken  as  well  to  the  legality  as  to  the  expediency  of  the  prin 
ciple.  The  former  has  been  fully  discussed,  and  on  that  sub 
ject  all  that  need  be  observed  is  that  President  Lincoln  be 
lieved  it  constitutional  to  preserve  the  Union,  and  every  meas 
ure  conducive  to  that  end  he  regarded  as  lawful. 

On  the  question  of  expediency,  however,  several  considera 
tions  suggest  themselves.  Apart  from  its  repugnance  to  the 
American  idea  of  majority  rule,  its  palpable  weakness  was 
that  governments  founded  on  the  consent  of  a  minimum  pro 
portion  of  the  electors  would  require  the  support  of  Federal 
power.  Here  occurs  the  question,  did  the  forces  thus  en 
gaged  so  greatly  impair  the  efficiency  of  the  main  armies  as 
sensibly  to  retard  the  work  of  destroying  the  enemy?  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  there  were  occasions  when  a  few  addi 
tional  regiments  could  have  been  employed  to  advantage; 
but  neither  the  reverses  nor  the  disasters  of  the  Union  armies 
were  caused  by  lack  of  numbers  so  much  as  by  the  need  early 
in  the  war  of  commanders  of  military  genius.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  troops  who  sustained  the  new  governments,  besides 
weakening  the  Confederacy,  were  affording  protection  to  or 
ganizations  that  otherwise  could  not  have  been  recruited. 
There  is  record  of  not  less  than  sixty-five  regiments  furnished 
by  the  States  restored  during  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Lincoln.1 
But  even  more  important  than  this  gratifying  result  was 
the  influence  which  the  reinstatement  of  four  seceding  com 
monwealths  exerted  on  the  attitude  of  those  European  powers 

*  Strait's  Roster  of  Regimental  Surgeons  and  Assistant  Surgeons,  p.  314. 
This  estimate  includes  all  the  troops  furnished  by  the  new  State  of  West 
Virginia. 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  493 

which  had  proved  early  in  the  conflict  their  hostility  to  the 
United  States.  The  "  Johnson  governments,"  so-called,  were 
never  required  to  furnish  any  such  unquestioned  evidence  of 
reviving  loyalty,  and  that  fact  should  not  be  overlooked  in 
any  comparison  of  the  results  accomplished  by  the  two 
Executives. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  existence  of  a  strong  opposi 
tion  to  minority  rule,  the  revolutionary  proceedings  in  west 
ern  Virginia  were  sanctioned  by  every  department  of  Gov 
ernment.  Members  from  the  loyal  eastern  counties  were  at 
first  admitted  to  seats  in  both  branches  of  Congress;  their 
successors,  'however,  were  in  turn  refused  this  indulgence 
until  there  was  presented  the  novel  spectacle  of  a  single  Sen 
ator  representing  the  diminished  glory  of  the  Old  Dominion. 
Louisiana,  too,  which  for  a  few  days  was  heard  in  the  lower 
House,  was  subsequently  excluded  altogether  by  the  chang 
ing  views  of  Congress.  The  revived  bill  of  Wade  and  Davis 
provided  in  one  of  its  many  forms  for  recognizing  that  State 
as  well  as  Arkansas,  and  even  when  the  extremists  obtained 
control  of  Congress  the  loyal  government  organized  in  Ten 
nessee  was  approved  by  avowed  opponents  of  the  Executive 
plan.  Mr.  Lincoln,  indeed,  clearly  perceived  the  inherent 
weakness  of  his  system,  and  no  one  could  have  been  more 
anxious  than  he  to  secure  a  wider  constituency.  These  facts 
seem  to  indicate  that  between  him  and  Congress  there  was 
not  then  so  wide  a  gulf  as,  for  partisan  purposes,  is  sometimes 
represented.  It  is  true  that  there  was  a  difference  of  prin 
ciple  between  the  two  departments;  that  there  was  a  powerful 
party  in  Congress  who  believed  that  reconstruction  was  essen 
tially  a  work  of  peace  and,  therefore,  pertained  exclusively  to 
the  national  Legislature.  The  holders  of  this  view  were, 
doubtless,  confirmed  in  their  opinion  by  a  conviction  that  the 
Executive  was  encroaching  on  a  coordinate  branch  of  gov 
ernment. 


494    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  Presidential  system  as  well  as  the  contemporary  theory 
of  Congress  restricted  the  suffrage  of  whites,  by  whom  it  was 
almost  universally  engrossed  at  the  foundation  of  the  Repub 
lic.  On  the  ground  of  justice  and  to  encourage  the  cultivation 
of  civic  virtues  among  the  negroes,  Mr.  Lincoln  would  admit 
those  qualified  to  exercise  this  important  privilege.  His  suc 
cessor  acknowledged  in  a  private  communication  that  for 
party  purposes  he  favored  some  extension  of  the  elective  fran 
chise  to  freedmen.  Though  Congress  advanced  rapidly  to 
ward  negro  suffrage,  the  first  essay  of  that  body  in  the  work 
of  reconstruction  included  no  provision  for  conferring  on  the 
colored  race  a  right  to  participate  in  government.  By 
Wade  and  Davis  it  was  not  then  deemed  necessary 
even  as  a  defensive  power.  Only  a  few  bold  innovators, 
considered  almost  fanatic  on  the  question,  were  in  favor  of 
bestowing  the  right  to  vote  on  the  multitudes  maintained  by 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau;  it  was  not  then  deemed  within  the 
commission  of  the  general  Government,  the  teachings  of  polit 
ical  science  were  still  respected  by  the  majority  in  Congress, 
and  the  fruits  of  victory,  it  was  hoped,  could  be  secured  with 
out  a  resort  to  radical  measures. 

The  form  of  an  oath  to  support  the  proclamations  and  laws 
respecting  slavery  appeared  in  the  Presidential  plan  as  a  con 
dition  indispensable  to  reinstatement.  On  this  subject  the 
difference  between  the  Executive  and  Congress  was  merely 
one  of  degree;  for  the  Wade-Davis  bill,  doubtless  in  imitation 
of  the  Presidential  system,  imposed  terms  precedent,  and  the 
new  constitutions  were  to  repudiate  the  rebel  debt,  abolish 
slavery  and  prohibit  the  higher  insurgent  officials,  civil  as 
well  as  military,  from  holding  the  office  of  governor,  from 
serving  in  the  State  legislatures  and  even  from  voting. 

By  its  adversaries  the  plan  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  condemned 
for  its  failure  to  exact  any  security  for  the  future  beyond  the 
oath  of  allegiance,  the  telegraphic  supervision  by  the  Pres- 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN  495 

ident  and  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  admission  of  mem- 
i  bers.  This  defect  the  legislative  theory  endeavored  to  supply, 
I  but  even  the  guardianship  proposed  by  Wade  and  Davis  could 
I  give  no  assurance  that  the  rebellious  communities  would  not, 

after  reinstatement,  eliminate  by  constitutional  amendment 

the  conditions  imposed  on  their  readmission.1 

*The  author  believes  himself  fortunate  in  being  able  to  place  before 
his  readers  a  letter  from  the  pen  of  Hon.  J.  B.  Henderson,  the  only  sur 
viving  Senator  who  participated  in  the  debates  summarized  in  chapter 
X.,  and,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  informed,  the  only  living  member  who 
served  in  the  United  States  Senate  during  that  eventful  period.  Coming, 
as  it  does,  from  one  who  supported  many  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  most  cherished 
measures,  the  letter  will  be  welcomed  as  a  valuable  historical  document. 
It  contrasts  forcibly  the  Presidential  plan  with  the  theory  of  Senator 
Sumner,  and  though  written  on  August  21,  1901,  more  than  a  generation 
after  the  occurrence  of  the  principal  events  discussed  in  this  book,  it  is 
characterized  by  the  clearness  and  the  energy  of  expression  which  marked 
even  the  unpremeditated  addresses  of  the  Senator's  Congressional  career. 
;  On  the  subject  of  reunion  he  writes  as  follows : 

"  Time,  in  my  judgment,  has  stamped  its  approval  on  Mr.  Lincoln's 
views  touching  the  questions  of  reconstruction  during  the  Civil  War. 
He  was  always  calm  and  judicial.  He  was  philosophical  in  periods  of 
the  most  intense  excitement.  He  never  lost  his  head,  but  under  all  cir 
cumstances  preserved  hia  temper  and  his  judgment.  He  was  not  the 
buffoon  described  by  his  enemies.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  a  wise  states 
man,  a  learned  lawyer,  and  a  conscientious  patriot;  and,  better  than  all, 
an  honest  man. 

"  The  infirmity  in  Mr.  Sumner' s  theories  of  reconstruction  came  from 
the  great  exuberance  of  his  learning.  He  ransacked  history,  ancient 
and  modern,  for  precedents  growing  out  of  civil  wars.  But  these  pre 
cedents  all  antedated  the  American  Constitution.  They  grew  out  of 
monarchical  systems  of  government,  and  had  no  relation  to  the  repub 
lican  forms  created  by  our  Constitution.  Under  our  system  there  can 
be  no  suicide  of  a  State.  Individual  citizens  by  rebellion  and  disloyalty 
may  forfeit  their  political  rights,  but  the  State  as  an  entity  commits  no 
treason  and  forfeits  no  rights  to  existence.  Under  our  Constitution  the 
State  cannot  die.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government  to  see  that 
it  does  not  Hie— that  it  shall  never  cease  to  exist.  If  the  State  be  in 
vaded  from  without,  the  duty  of  the  General  Government  is  to  protect 
and  defend  it.  If  domestic  violence  threatens  the  subversion  of  the  local 
government,  the  nation's  duty  is  to  intervene  and  uphold  the  hands  of 


496    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

However  crude  we  may  now  consider  Mr.  Lincoln's  sys 
tem  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  with  him  the  paramount 
consideration  was  the  overthrow  of  the  Confederacy.  With 
that  purpose  all  his  measures  harmonized,  and  it  is  scarcely 
critical  to  examine  them  from  any  other  point  of  view.  How 
far  necessity,  which  had  originally  suggested,  would  subse 
quently  have  modified  his  plan  it  is  now  impossible  to  state. 
Without  detracting  a  particle  from  his  well-won  fame  it  may 
be  admitted  that  his  method,  which  could  not  have  foreseen 
the  rapid  succession  of  changes  following  his  death,  was  but 
indifferently  adapted  to  solve  the  problem  with  which  Congress 

those  who  maintain  the  laws.  The  trustee  of  an  express  trust  cannot 
excuse  himself  to  a  minority  of  the  beneficiaries  because  the  majority 
repudiate  his  agency. 

" '  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a 
republican  form  of  government.'  No  State  government  is  republican  in 
form  that  does  not  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion.  This  is  the  essential  test  of  republicanism.  No  State  can  enter 
the  Union  without  conforming  its  Constitution  to  this  supreme  organic 
law.  And  whenever  by  force  or  violence,  a  majority  of  its  citizens  un 
dertake  to  withdraw  the  State  from  its  obedience  to  Federal  law  and 
to  repudiate  the  sovereignty  of  the  Federal  Government,  it  at  once 
becomes  the  duty  of  Congress  to  act. 

"  This  duty  of  Congress  is  not  to  destroy  the  State  or  to  declare  it  a 
suicide,  and  proceed  to  administer  on  its  effects.  On  the  contrary,  the 
duty  clearly  is  to  preserve  the  State,  to  restore  it  to  its  old  republican 
forms.  Its  duty  is  not  to  territorialize  the  State  and  proceed  to  govern 
it  as  a  conquered  colony.  The  duty  is  not  one  of  demolition,  but  one  of 
restoration.  It  is  not  to  make  a  Constitution,  but  to  guarantee  that  the 
old  Constitution  or  one  equally  republican  in  form,  and  made  by  the 
loyal  citizens  of  the  State,  shall  be  upheld  and  sustained. 

"  If  a  majority  of  the  people  of  a  State  conspire  to  subvert  its  republi 
can  forms,  that  majority  may  be,  and  should  be,  put  down  by  the  Federal 
power,  while  the  minority,  however  few,  sustaining  republican  forms 
may  be  constitutionally  installed  as  the  political  power  of  the  State. 

"  These,  as  I  understand,  were  the  views  of  Mr.  Lincoln ;  and  they 
were  not  the  views  of  Mr.  Sumner,  as  enunciated  in  his  resolutions  of 
1862  and  advocated  by  him  in  his  subsequent  career  in  the  Senate. 

"  A  departure  from  these  views  gave  us  the  carpet-bag  governments 
of  the  Southern  States,  and  brought  upon  us  divers  other  evils  in  our 
ideas  and  theories  of  government,  whose  effects  are  yet  visible." 


CULMINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  PLAN    497 

was  compelled  to  deal  in  1867;  but  the  measure  of  permanent 
success  which  attended  the  deliberate  legislation  of  that  body 
by  no  means  justifies  the  conclusion  that  some  other  system 
would  have  proved  a  total  failure.  With  all  its  immaturity 
the  plan  of  the  President  was  not  without  its  advantages.  It 
aimed  to  restore  with  as  little  innovation  as  possible  the  Union 
of  the  Fathers;  with  some  exceptions  the  natural  leaders  of 
Southern  society  were  to  participate  in  the  work  of  reorgan 
ization,  and  the  author  of  this  simple  plan  approached  his 
difficult  task  in  a  generous  and  enlightened  spirit. 

On  the  life  and  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln  an  admiring 
generation  has  exhausted  the  language  of  panegyric;  the 
terms  of  censure  have  been  reserved  almost  exclusively  for  his 
method  of  restoring  the  Union;  but  neither  the  critic's  ken, 
nor  the  ambitious  phrase  of  eulogy,  nor  all  the  thoughts  that 
since  his  death  have  dropped  from  poets'  pens  affords  that  clear 
insight  into  his  nature  which  is  unconsciously  revealed  in  the 
simple  and  beautiful  exhortation  that  concludes  his  last  in 
augural.  The  sentiments  which  immortalize  that  celebrated 
state  paper  could  have  proceeded  only  from  the  depths  of  a 
noble  soul — a  soul  that  would  have  imposed  silence  on  the 
voice  of  vengeance  and  would  never  have  consented  to  the 
revenge  of  section  upon  section.  In  this  book  an  endeavor 
has  been  made  fully  to  discuss  his  plan  of  reconstruction;  the 
spirit  in  which  he  approached  that  difficult  task  is  best  stated 
in  his  own  generous  and  patriotic  words,  with  which  may  be 
fittingly  closed  this  long  though  interesting  inquiry:  "With 
malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with  firmness  in 
the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds; 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow,  and  his  orphan— to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and 
cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with 
all  nations."  * 

1N.  &H.,  Vol.  X.,  p.  145- 

THE   END. 


APPENDIX  A 

THIRTY-SEVENTH  CONGRESS 

SENATE 

First  session,  July  4,  1861,  to  August  6,  1861.  Republicans  (31)  in 
Roman,  Democrats  (10)  in  Italics,  Unionists  (7)  in  SMALL  CAPITALS, 
vacancies  2. 

Second  session,  Dec.  I,  1862,  to  Mar.  4,  1864. 

CALIFORNIA.—  Milton  S.  Latham  and  James  A.  McDougall  (vice 

E.  D.  Baker,  who  died). 

CONNECTICUT.— James  Dixon  and  Lafayette  S.  Foster. 
DELAWARE.— James  A.  Bayard  and  Willard  Saulsbury. 
ILLINOIS.— Lyman  Trumbull  and  Orville  H.  Browning. 
INDIANA.— Henry  S.  Lane  and7*y^Z>.  Bright  (expelled  Feb.  5, 1862, 

and  was  succeeded  by  David  Turpie]. 
IOWA. — James  W.  Grimes  and  James  Harlan. 
KANSAS. — James  H.  Lane  and  Samuel  C.  Pomeroy. 
KENTUCKY.—  Lazarus  W.  Powell  and  GARRETT  DAVIS  (vice  John 

C.  Breckenridge,  expelled). 

MAINE.— Lot  M.  Morrill  and  William  Pitt  Fessenden. 
MASSACHUSETTS.— Charles  Sumner  and  Henry  Wilson. 
MARYLAND.— ANTHONY  KENNEDY  and  James  A.  Pearce  (died  Dec. 

20,  1862,  and  was  succeeded  by  THOMAS  H.  HICKS). 
MICHIGAN.— Zachariah  Chandler  and  Jacob  M.  Howard. 
MINNESOTA.— Henry  M.  Rice  and  Morton  S.  Wilkinson. 
MISSOURI.— JOHN  B.  HENDERSON  (vice  Trusten  Polk,  expelled)  and 

ROBERT  WILSON  (vice  Waldo  Porter  Johnson,  expelled). 
NEW  HAMPSHIRE.— John  P.  Hale  and  Daniel  Clark. 
NEW  YORK.— Preston  King  and  Ira  Harris. 
NEW  JERSEY.— John  C.  Ten  Eyckand  John  R.  Thomson  (died  Sept. 

12,  1862,  Richard  S.  Field  was  temporarily  appointed  to  fill  the 

vacancy,  and  James  W.  Wall  was  subsequently  elected  for  the  un- 

expired  term). 
OHIO. — Benjamin  F.  Wade  and  John  Sherman  (vice  Salmon  P.  Chase, 

who  resigned  Mar.  6,  1861). 
OREGON.— Edward  D.  Baker  (died  Oct.  21,  i86i,and  was  succeeded 

by  BENJAMIN  F.  HARDING)  and  James  W.  Nesmith. 
PENNSYLVANIA.— Edgar   Cowan  and   David  Wilmot  (vice  Simon 

Cameron,  who  resigned  in  March,  1861). 

RHODE  ISLAND.— Henry    B.  Anthony  and  James  F.  Simmons  (re 
signed.   SAMUEL  G.  ARNOLD  elected  to  fill  the  unexpired  term). 

499 


5oo    LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

VERMONT.— Solomon  Foot  and  Jacob  Collamer. 
VIRGINIA.— WAITMAN  T.  WILLEY  and  JOHN  S.  CARLILE. 
WISCONSIN.— James  R.  Doolittle  and  Timothy  O.  Howe. 

HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES 

CALIFORNIA.— Aaron  A.  Sargent,  Timothy  G.  Phelps,  Frederick  F. 
Low. 

CONNECTICUT.— Dwight  Loomis,  James  E.  English,  Alfred  A. 
Burnham,  George  C.  Woodruff. 

DELAWARE.— GEORGE  P.  FISHER. 

ILLINOIS.— Elihu  B.  Washburne,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Owen  Lovejoy, 
William  Kellogg,  William  A.  Richardson,  James  C.  Robinson, 
Philip  B.  Fouke,  John  A.  Logan. 

INDIANA. — John  Law,  James  A.  Cravens,  William  McKee  Dunn, 
William  S.  Holman,  George  W.  Julian,  Albert  G.  Porter,  Daniel 
W.  Voorhees,  Albert  S.  White,  Schuyler  Colfax,  William  Mitchell, 
John  P.  C.  Shanks. 

IOWA.— James  F.  Wilson,  William  Vandever. 

KANSAS.— Martin  F.  Conway. 

KENTUCKY.— JAMES  S.  JACKSON  (died  in  1862  and  was  succeeded  by 
GEORGE  H.  YEAMAN),  HENRY  GRIDER,  AARON  HARDING, 
CHARLES  A.  WICKLIFFE,  GEORGE  W.  DUNLAP,  ROBERT  MAL- 
LORY,  JOHN  J.  CRITTENDEN,  WILLIAM  H.  WADSWORTH,  JOHN 
W.  MENZIES,  SAMUEL  L.  CASEY  (vice  Mr.  Burnett,  expelled). 

MAINE.— John  N.  Goodwin,  Charles  W.  Walton  (resigned.  Thos.  A. 
D.  Fessenden  elected  to  fill  vacancy),  Samuel  C.  Fessenden, 
Anson  P.  Morrill,  John  H.  Rice,  Frederick  A.  Pike. 

MARYLAND.— JOHN  W.  CRISFIELD,  EDWIN  H.  WEBSTER,  CORNE 
LIUS  L.  L.  LEARY,  Henry  May,  FRANCIS  THOMAS,  CHARLES  B. 
CALVERT. 

MASSACHUSETTS.— Thomas  D.  Eliot,  James  Bufrinton,  Benjamin 
F.  Thomas  (sometimes  classed  as  a  Unionist),  Alexander  H.  Rice, 
Samuel  Hooper,  John  B.  Alley,  Daniel  W.  Gooch,  Charles  R.  Train, 
Goldsmith  F.  Bailey  (died  May  8,  1862,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Amasa  Walker),  Charles  Delano,  Henry  L.  Dawes. 

MICHIGAN.— Bradley  F.  Granger,  Fernando  C.  Beaman,  Francis  W. 
Kellogg,  Rowland  E.  Trowbridge. 

MINNESOTA.— Cyrus  Aldrich  and  William  Windom. 

MISSOURI.— Francis  P.  Blair,  jr.  (resigned  in  1862),  JAMES  S.  ROLLINS, 
WILLIAM  A.  HALL,  Elijah  H.  Norton,  THOMAS  L.  PRICE,  John 
S.  Phelps,  John  W.  Noell 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.— Gilman  Marston,  Edward  H.  Rollins,  Thomas 
M.  Edwards. 

NEW  JERSEY.— John  T.   Nixon,  John  L.  N.  Stratton,   William  G. 

Steele,  George  T.  Cobb,  Nehemiah  Perry. 
NEW  YORK.—  Edward  H.  Smith,  Moses  F.  Odell,  Benjamin  Wood, 

James  E.  Kerrigan,  William  Wall,  Frederick  A.  Conkling,  Elijah 


APPENDIX  A  501 

Ward,  Isaac  C.  Delaplaine,  Edward  Haight,  Charles  H.  Van  Wyck, 
John  B.  Steele,  Stephen  Baker,  Abraham  B.  Olin,  Erastus  Corning, 
James  B.  McKean,  William  A.  Wheeler,  Socrates  N.  Sherman, 
Chauncey  Vibbard,  Richard  Franchot,  Roscoe  Conkling,  R.  Hol 
land  Duell,  William  E.  Lansing,  Ambrose  W.  Clark,  Charles  B. 
Sedgwick,  Theodore  M.  Pomeroy,  Jacob  P.  Chamberlain,  Alexander 
S.  Diven,  Robert  B.  Van  Valkenburg,  Alfred  Ely,  Augustus  Frank, 
Burt  Van  Horn,  Elbridge  G.  Spaulding,  Reuben  E.  Fenton. 

OHIO.— George  H.  Pendleton,  John  A.  Gurley,  Clement  L.  Vallandig- 
ham,  William  Allen,  James  M.  Ashley,  Chilian  A.  White,  RICHARD 
A.  HARRISON,  Samuel  Shellabarger,  Warren  P.  Noble,  Carey  A. 
Trimble,  Valentine  B.  Horton,  Samuel  S.  Cox,  Samuel  T.  Worces 
ter,  Harrison  G.  Blake,  Robert  H.  Nugen,  William  P.  Cutler,  James 
R.  Morris,  Sidney  Edgerton,  Albert  G.  Riddle,  John  Hutchins, 
John  A.  Bingham. 

OREGON.— George  K.  Shiel. 

PENNSYLVANIA.—  William  E.  Lehman,  Charles /.  Biddle,  John  P. 
Verree,  William  D.  Kelley,  William  Morris  Davis,  John  Hickman, 
Thomas  B.  Cooper  (died  April  4,  1862,  and  was  succeeded  by  John 
D.  Stiles),  Sydenham  E.  Ancona,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  John  W. 
Killinger,  James  H.  Campbell,  HENDRICK  B.  WRIGHT,  Philip 
Johnson,  Galusha  A.  Grow,  James  T.  Hale,  Joseph  Baily,  Edward 
McPherson,  Samuel  S.  Blair,  John  Covode,  Jesse  Lazear,  James  K. 
Moorhead,  Robert  McKnight,  John  W.  Wallace,  John  Patton, 
Elijah  Babbitt. 

RHODE  ISLAND.— GEORGE  H.  BROWNE,  WILLIAM  P.  SHEFFIELD. 

TENNESSEE.— HORACE  MAYNARD. 

VERMONT. — Ezekiel  P.  Walton,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  Portus  Baxter. 

VIRGINIA.— CHARLES  H.  UPTON,  EDMUND  PENDLETON,  WILLIAM 
G.  BROWN,  JACOB  B.  BLAIR,  KILLIAN  V.  WHALEY,  JOSEPH  E. 
SEGAR. 

WISCONSIN.— John  F.  Potter,  Luther  Hanchett  (died  Nov.  24,  1862, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Walter  Mclndoe),  A.  Scott  Sloan. 

DELEGATES   FROM   TERRITORIES 

COLORADO.— Hiram  P.  Bennett. 
DAKOTA.— John  B.  S.  Todd. 
NEBRASKA.— Samuel  G.  Daily. 
NEVADA. — John  C.  Cradlebaugh. 
NEW  MEXICO.— John  S.  Watts. 
UTAH.— John  M.  Bernhisel. 
WASHINGTON.— James  H.  Wallace. 


APPENDIX    B 

THIRTY-EIGHTH    CONGRESS 

SENATE 

First  regular  session,  Dec.  7,  1863,  to  July  4,  1864. 
Second  session  from  Dec.  5,  1864,  to  March  3,  1865. 

CALIFORNIA.— John  Conness  and  James  A.  McDougall. 
CONNECTICUT.— James  Dixon  and  Lafayette  S.  Foster. 
DELAWARE.  —  Willard  Saulsbury  and  George  Read  Riddle  (vice 

Senator  Bayard,  who  resigned). 

ILLINOIS.— William  A.  Richardson  and  Lyman  Trumbull. 
INDIANA.— Thomas  A.  Hendricks  and  Henry  S.  Lane. 
IOWA. — James  Harlan  and  James  W.  Grimes. 
KANSAS.— Samuel  C.  Pomeroy  and  James  H.  Lane. 
KENTUCKY.— GARRETT  DAVIS  (Senator  DAVIS  is  sometimes  men 
tioned  as  a  Democrat)  and  Lazarus  W.  Powell. 
MAINE. — Lot  M.   Morrill  and  William  Pitt  Fessenden  (resigned  in 

1864,  and  was  succeeded  by  Nathan  A.  Farwell). 
MASSACHUSETTS.— Charles  Sumner  and  Henry  Wilson. 
MARYLAND.— REVERDY  JOHNSON  and  THOMAS  H.   HICKS  (died 

Feb.  13,  1865). 

MICHIGAN. — Zachariah  Chandler  and  Jacob  M.  Howard. 
MINNESOTA.— Alexander  Ramsey  and  Morton  S.  Wilkinson. 
MISSOURI. — John  B.  Henderson  (sometimes  mentioned  as  a  Unionist) 

and  B.  Gratz  Brown  (vice  Waldo  Porter  Johnson,  expelled,  Robert 

Wilson  having  been  appointed  pro  tern.). 
NEW  HAMPSHIRE.— Daniel  Clark  and  John  P.  Hale. 
NEW  JERSEY.— William  Wright  and  John  C.  Ten  Eyck. 
NEW  YORK.— Edwin  D.  Morgan  and  Ira  Harris. 
OHIO.— Benjamin  F.  Wade  and  John  Sherman. 
OREGON.— Benjamin  F.  Harding  and  James  W.  Nesmith. 
PENNSYLVANIA.  —  Charles  R.  Buckalew  and  Edgar  Cowan. 
RHODE  ISLAND.— William  Sprague  and  Henry  B.  Anthony. 
VERMONT.— Solomon  Foot  and  Jacob  Collamer. 
VIRGINIA.— LEMUEL  J.  BOWDEN  and  JOHN  S.  CARLILE  (sometimes 

mentioned  as  a  Democrat). 

WEST  VIRGINIA.— Waitman  T.  Willey  and  Peter  G.  Van  Winkle. 
WISCONSIN.— James  R.  Doolittle  and  Timothy  O.  Howe. 
NEVADA.— James  W.  Nye  and  William  M.  Stewart. 

502 


APPENDIX  B  503 


HOUSE    OF   REPRESENTATIVES 

CALIFORNIA.— Thomas  B.  Shannon,  William  Higby,  Cornelius  Cole. 

CONNECTICUT.— Henry  C.  Deming,  James  E.  English,  Augustus 
Brandegee,  John  H.  Hubbard. 

DELAWARE.— Nathaniel  B.  Smithers. 

ILLINOIS.— Isaac  N.  Arnold,  John  F.  Farnsworth,  Elihu  B.  Wash- 
burne,  Charles  M.  Harris,  Owen  Lovejoy  (died  Mar.  25,  1864,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Ebon  C.  Ingersoll),  Jesse  O.  Norton,  John  R. 
Eden,  John  T.  Stuart,  Lewis  W.  Ross,  Anthony  L.  Knapp,  James 
C.  Robinson,  William  R.  Morrison,  William  J.  Allen,  James  C. 
Allen. 

INDIANA.— John  Law,  James  A.  Cravens,  Henry  W.  Harrington, 
William  S.  Holman,  George  W.  Julian,  Ebenezer  Dumont,  Daniel 
W.  Voorhees,  Godlove  S.  Orth,  Schuyler  Colfax,  Joseph  K.  Edger- 
ton,  James  F.  McDowell. 

IOWA.— James  F.  Wilson,  Hiram  Price,  William  B.  Allison,  J.  B. 
Grinnell,  John  A.  Kasson,  A.  W.  Hubbard. 

KANSAS.— A.  Carter  Wilder. 

KENTUCKY. — Lucien  Anderson,  GEORGE  H.  YEAMAN,  HENRY 
GRIDER,  AARON  HARDING,  ROBERT  MALLORY,  Green  Clay  Smith, 
Brutus  J.  Clay,  William  H.  Randall,  WILLIAM  H.  WADSWORTH. 

MAINE. — Lorenzo  D.  M.  Sweat,  Sidney  Perham,  James  G.  Elaine, 
John  H.  Rice,  Frederick  A.  Pike. 

MARYLAND.  —John  A.  J.  Cresswell,  Edwin  H.  Webster,  Henry  Winter 
Davis,  Francis  Thomas,  Benjamin  G.  Harris. 

MASSACHUSETTS.— Thomas  D.  Eliot,  Oakes  Ames,  Alexander  H. 
Rice,  Samuel  Hooper,  John  B.  Alley,  Daniel  W.  Gooch,  George  S. 
Boutwell,  John  D.  Baldwin,  William  B.  Washburn,  Henry  L.  Dawes. 

MICHIGAN.— Fernando  C.  Beaman,  Charles  Upson,  John  W.  Long- 
year,  Francis  W.  Kellogg,  Augustus  C.  Baldwin,  John  F.  Driggs. 

MINNESOTA.— William  Windom,  Ignatius  Donnelly. 

MISSOURI. — FRANCIS  P.  BLAIR,  jr.  (seat  successfully  contested  by 
Samuel  Knox  of  St.  Louis),  Henry  T.  Blow,  John  G.  Scott,  Joseph 
W.  McClurg,  Sempronius  H.  Boyd,  Austin  A.  King,  Benjamin 
F.  Loan,  William  A.  Hall,  James  S.  Rollins. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.— Daniel Marcy,  Edward  H.  Rollins,  James  W. 
Patterson. 

NEW  JERSEY.— John  F.  Starr,  George  Middleton,  William  G.  Steele, 
Andrew  J.  Rogers,  Nehemiah  Perry. 

NEW  YORK.—  Henry  G.  Stebbins  (resigned  in  1864  and  was  succeeded 
by  Dwight  Townsend] ,  Martin  Kalbfleisch,  Moses  F.  Odell,  Benja 
min  Wood,  Fernando  Wood,  Elijah  Ward,  John  W.  Chanler,  James 
Brooks,  Anson  Herrick,  William  Radford,  Charles  H.  Winfield, 
Homer  A.  Nelson,  John  B.  Steele,  John  V.  L.  Pruyn,  John  A. 
Griswold,  Orlando  Kellogg,  Calvin  T.  Hulburd,  James  M.  Marvin, 
Samuel  F.  Miller,  Ambrose  W.  Clark,  Francis  Kernan,  DeWitt  C. 
Littlejohn,  Thomas  T.  Davis,  Theodore  M.  Pomeroy,  Daniel  Morris, 
Giles  W.  Hotchkiss,  Robert  Van  Valkenburg,  Freeman  Clark, 


504  LINCOLN'S  PLAN  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 

Augustus  Frank,  John  B.  Ganson,  Reuben  E.  Fenton  (resigned 
Dec.  10,  1864). 

OHIO. George  H.  Pendleton,  Alexander  Long,  Robert  C.  Schenck, 

J.  F.  McKinney,  Frank  C.  Le  Blond,  Chilian  A.  White,  Samuel  S- 
Cox,  William  Johnson,  Warren  P.  Noble,  James  M.  Ashley,  Wells 
A.  Hutchins,  William  E.  Fink,  John  O'Neill,  George  Bliss,  James 
R.  Morris,  Joseph  W.  White,  Ephraim  R.  Eckley,  Rufus  P. 
Spaulding,  James  A.  Garfield. 

OREGON.— John  R.  McBride. 

PENNSYLVANIA.— Samuel  J.  Randall,  Charles  O'Neill,  Leonard 
Myers,  William  D.  Kelley,  M.  Russell  Thayer,  John  D.  Stiles, 
John  M.  Broomall,  Sydenham  E.  Ancona,  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
Myer  Strouse,  Philip  Johnson,  Charles  Dennison,  Henry  W.  Tracy, 
William  H.  Miller,  Joseph  Bailey,  Alexander  H.  Coffroth,  Archi 
bald  McAllister,  James  T.  Hale,  Glenni  W.  Scofield,  Amos  Myers, 
John  L.  Dawson,  James  K.  Moorhead,  Thomas  Williams,  Jesse 
Lazear. 

RHODE  ISLAND.— Thomas  A.  Jenckes,  Nathan  F.  Dixon. 

VERMONT.— Frederick  E.  Woodbridge,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  Portus 
Baxter. 

VIRGINIA.— Had  Senators  but  no  Representatives.  JOSEPH  SEGAR, 
Lucius  H.  CHANDLER  and  BENJAMIN  M.  KITCHEN,  claimants  for 
seats,  were  not  admitted, 

WEST  VIRGINIA.— Jacob  B.  Blair,  William  G.  Brown,  Killian  V. 
Whaley* 

WISCONSIN.—  James  S.  Brown,  Ithamar  C.  Sloan,  Amasa  Cobb, 
Charles  A.  Eldridge,  Ezra  Wheeler,  Walter  D.  Mclndoe. 


DELEGATES   FROM   TERRITORIES 
ARIZONA.— Charles  D.  Poston. 
COLORADO. — Hiram  P.  Bennett. 

DAKOTA. — William  Jayne  (seat  successfully  contested  by  John  B.  S, 
Todd). 

IDAHO.— William  H.  Wallace. 

MONTANA.— Samuel  McLean. 

NEBRASKA.— Samuel  G.  Daily. 

NEVADA  (admitted  as  a  State).— Gordon  N.  Mott  (Henry  G.  Worth- 

ington  was  elected  Representative  when  Nevada  became  a  State). 
NEW  MEXICO.— Francisco  Perea. 
UTAH.— John  F.  Kenney. 
WASHINGTON.— George  E.  Cole. 

*  The  West  Virginia  Representatives  took  their  seats  Dec.  7,  1863. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


B  O  L  I  T I  O  N      societies, 
Southern,    ended   by   new 
industrial  era,  5 
Adams,  Charles  Francis, 

Alabama,  in  Federal  control,  50; 
Arkansas  Legislature  addressed 
by  commissioner  from,  77;  in 
surrection  in,  314;  injury  sus 
tained  by,  437 

Alabama,  The,  50,  288 

Albemarle,  The,  destruction  of, 
288 

Alexandria,  capital  of  loyal  Vir 
ginia,  129;  convention  meets  at, 
130;  blockade  of,  rescinded, 
133;  Legislature  assembles  at, 
137;  ceases  to  be  capital,  446; 
recognition  of  government  of, 
marks  no  distinct  Executive 
policy,  448 

Alleghany  Mountains,  Virginia  di 
vided  by,  96 

Allegiance,  oath  of,  24;  Governor 
Johnson's  modification  of,  27; 
registration  of,  28;  required  of 
Louisiana  voters,  45;  value  of, 
487 

Allen,  Henry  Watkins,  end  of  ad 
ministration  of,  418;  mentioned 
for  governor  of  Louisiana,  422 

Amendment,  Thirteenth,  Hamp 
ton  Roads  conference  refers  to, 
399;  adoption  of,  by  Georgia 
Legislature,  466 

Amnesty  and  Reconstruction,  Lin 
coln's  proclamation  of,  23,  24, 
25,  224;  authority  for,  24; 
classes  excepted  from  benefits 
of,  25;  explanation  of,  28;  ap 
plied  in  Louisiana,  61;  How 
ard's  reference  to,  365;  John 
son's  proclamation  of,  450; 
Seward's  approval  of,  451;  all 


insurgent  States  affected  by, 
452.  See  Reconstruction 

Anthony,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  ar 
rest  of,  169 

Antietam,  Md.,  Lee  defeated  at, 
186 

Arkansas,  effect  of  Union  vic 
tories  in,  10;  enrolling  agent 
sent  to,  27;  loyal  part  of,  77; 
Alabama  commissioner  ad 
dresses  Legislature  of,  77;  po 
sition  of,  77;  interests  of,  77; 
opposition  to  separate  State 
action  in,  77;  convention  bill 
passed  by,  77;  conditional  se 
cession  defeated  in,  78;  influ 
ence  of  President's  inaugural 
in,  78;  secession  of,  78;  seces 
sion  favored  by  Governor  of, 
78;  military  preparations  in,  78; 
confiscation  ordinance  of,  78; 
Confederate  Congress  admit 
delegates  from,  79;  convention 
conflicts  with  government  of, 
79;  military  division  of,  79;  dis 
satisfaction  among  soldiers  of, 
80;  troops  of,  in  Confederate 
army,  80;  indifference  of  Ger 
mans  and  Irish,  80;  bonds  of, 
81;  Union  sentiment  in,  81; 
menaced  by  Federal  troops,  81 ; 
flight  of  Governor,  82;  troops 
sent  to  Corinth  from,  82;  John 
S.  Phelps,  military  governor 
of,  82;  regiments  furnished 
Union  army  by,  83;  return  of 
leading  secessionists,  83;  Fed 
eral  reverses  in,  84;  reconstruc 
tion  of,  85;  amended  constitu 
tion  of,  88;  Confederate  debt 
repudiated  by,  88;  division 
among  Union  men  of,  88;  Lin 
coln's  letter  on  reconstruction 
in,  89;  Gen.  Steele's  address 
to  people  of,  90;  election  in, 
90;  adoption  of  amended  con- 


507 


5o8 


INDEX 


stitution  for,  go;  Congressman 
elected  in,  91;  Congress  ex 
cludes  Representatives  from, 
91;  no  Presidential  election  in, 
92,  195;  legality  of  government 
of,  maintained  by  Lincoln, 
195;  loyal  government  in,  286; 
insurrection  in,  314;  Reverdy 
Johnson  favors  recognition  of, 
378;  Thirteenth  Amendment 
ratified  by,  409;  slavery  abol 
ished  by  constitution  of,  410; 
disfranchising  act  of,  410;  loyal 
government  acquiesced  in,  410; 
pacification  of,  411;  destitution 
in  parts  of,  412 

Arnell,  Daniel  W.,  election  of,  415 
Arnold,  Isaac  N.,  resolution  intro 
duced  by,  170 

Army  of  the  United  States,  Pro 
vost  Court  of,  40;  discontinu 
ance  of  enlistments  for,  408; 
mustering  out  of  volunteers  in 
the,  409 

Ascension,  parish  of,  vote  in,  74 
Ashley,  James  M.,  reconstruction 
bill  reported  by,  289;  proposal 
to  confer  suffrage  on  negro  sol 
diers  and  sailors,  294;  no  pro 
vision  for  education  of  negroes 
in  bill  of,  298;  effects  of  recon 
struction  bill  of,  302;  substitute 
introduced  by,  304;  remarks  on 
reconstruction  by,  304;  motives 
for  compromise  offered  by, 
306;  reconstruction  bill  of, 
tabled,  311;  revived  bill  of,  312; 
explanation  of  inconsistency  of, 
312;  reconstruction  bill  of, 
tabled,  313;  remarks  on  recon 
struction  by,  313 

Atlantic  Monthly,  The,  Sumner's 
article  in,  200 

B 

BAKER,  JOSHUA,  member- 
elect  from  Louisiana,  56 

Baldwin,  Augustus  C,  reconstruc 
tion  bill  opposed  by,  241 

Baltimore  convention,  Lincoln  re- 
nominated  by,  32;  Lincoln  did 
not  openly  influence,  34;  ad 
journment  of,  277 

Bancroft,   George,   relief  meeting 


presided  over  by,  150;  address 
of,  151;  letter  of,  to  Lincoln, 
151;  Lincoln's  letter  to,  152 

Banks,  N.  P.,  expedition  of,  43; 
at  Port  Hudson,  49;  plans  for 
invasion  of  Texas,  51;  petition 
of  New  Orleans  convention  to, 
59;  intention  of  ordering  an 
election,  61 ;  Free  State  General 
Committee's  attack  of,  61;  de 
cides  against  Free  State  Com 
mittee,  64;  Gen.  Shepley's  dis 
agreement  with,  64;  Lincoln's 
letter  to,  65;  reconstruction  let 
ter  of,  66;  Lincoln  appreciates 
services  of,  67;  urged  by  Presi 
dent  to  reconstruct  Louisiana, 
67;  date  for  election  fixed  by, 
67;  Shepley's  registration  ap 
proved  by,  68;  proclamation  by, 
69;  order  of,  relative  to  elec 
tion,  69;  letter  to  Lincoln,  70; 
date  of  delegate  election  fixed 
by,  74;  before  Congressional 
committee,  75;  Boutwell's  de 
fence  of,  255;  Powell's  criticism 
of,  346;  Governor  Wells  not  in 
harmony  with,  418 

Bates,  Edward,  Attorney-General, 
letter  to  A.  F.  Ritchie,  105;  on 
admission  of  West  Virginia, 
123;  on  Norfolk  affairs,  135; 
letter  to  Marshal  McDowell, 
147. 

Batesville,  Gen.  Curtis's  occupa 
tion  of,  82 

Baton  Rouge,  secession  conven- 
vention  in,  36 

Baxter,  Elisha,  election  of,  91 

Bayard,  James  F.,  103;  admission 
of  West  Virginia  Senators  op 
posed  by,  193 

Bell,  Joseph  M.,  40 

Bell  and  Everett,  vote  for  in 
Louisiana,  37 

Belmont,  August,  Lincoln's  letter 
to,  39 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  resignation 
of,  76,  424 

Bent,  Charles,   12 

Berkeley  County,  provision  for 
annexing  to  West  Virginia, 
no;  annexation  of,  127 

Bingham,  John  A.,  debate  on 
West  Virginia  closed  by,  119 


INDEX 


509 


Black,  Jeremiah  S.,  diplomatic 
mission  of,  390 

Elaine,  James  G.,  73;  existence  of 
schism  in  Republican  party  ig 
nored  by,  313;  quotation  from, 
441 ;  Johnson's  change  of  policy 
explained  by,  489 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  ST.,  Lincoln  in 
terviewed  by,  390;  camp  of 
Gen.  Grant  visited  by,  391; 
Jefferson  Davis  interviewed  by, 
391;  plan  of  reunion  proposed 
by,  391;  Mr.  Davis's  letter  to, 
393;  Lincoln's  letter  to,  304; 
mission  a  failure,  394 

Blair,  Montgomery,  on  admission 
of  West  Virginia,  123;  time  of 
emancipation  deemed  inoppor 
tune  by,  188;  reply  to  Sumner 
by,  208 

Bliss,  C.  C,  88 

Blockade  of  Louisiana  ports,  37 

Blow,  Henry  T.,  remarks  on  re 
construction  by,  301 

Bonzano,  M.  F.,  election  of,  76; 
seat  in  Congress  claimed  by, 
341;  report  by  Committee  of 
Elections  on,  341 

Bordeaux,  visit  of  Confederate 
naval  agent  to,  50 

Border  States,  Lincoln  supported 
by  delegates  from,  i;  Cotton 
States  expected  aid  from,  161; 
Lincoln  interviewed  by  Con 
gressmen  from,  163,  171;  inter 
ests  of  South  bound  up  with, 
171 ;  majority  reply  of  Con 
gressmen  from,  173;  emancipa 
tion  proclamation  did  not  affect 
status  of  slaves  in,  383 

Boreman,  Arthur  I.,  100,  128,  129 

Bouligny,  John  E.,  43 

Boutwell,  George  S.,  reconstruc 
tion  speech  of,  254;  President 
Johnson  visited  by,  458 

Bowden,  Lemuel  J.,  131,  138 

Boyers,  J.   E.,   128 

Bradley,  General,  79 

Bragg,  General,  raid  of,  19 

Brandegee,  Augustus,  342 
Brazos,  battle  of,  50 
Breckenridge,    John    C,    election 

of,  316 

Bright,  Hon.  John,  Sumner's  let 
ters  to,  200,  290 


Brooks,  James,  inquiry  of,  225 

Brown,  B.  Gratz,  substitute  of, 
264;  amendment  of,  272 

Brown  John,  142 

Brown,  William  G.,  bill  of,  113; 
remarks  on  admission  of  West 
Virginia,  114 

Brownlow,  William  G.,  7;  unites 
in  call  for  convention,  21,  29; 
nomination  of,  31;  election  of, 
32;  Mr.  Johnson's  dispatch  to, 
414;  remarks  on  negro  suf 
frage,  416;  policy  recommended 
by,  417 

Brownson,  Orestes,  theory  of 
State  suicide  summarized  by, 

2IO 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  150 

Buchanan,  James,  election  of,  316 

Buell,  General  Don  Carlos,  army 
of,  3,  10,  19;  treatment  of  fugi 
tive  slaves  by,  158 

Bullett,  Cuthbert,  Lincoln's  letter 
to,  39 

Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen  and 
Abandoned  Lands.  See  Freed- 
men's  Bureau 

Burke,  Edmund,  200 

Burnside,  General  Ambrose  E., 
150 

Butler,  General  Benjamin  F.,  33; 
investigation  of,  38,  39;  re 
lieved  from  command,  40;  Lin 
coln's  letter  to,  44;  new  depart 
ment  assigned  to,  133;  Pierpont 
criticised  by,  134;  Attorney- 
General  criticised  by,  135;  Lin 
coln's  letter  to,  136;  department 
of  Virginia  commanded  by, 
143;  fugitive  slaves  arrive  at 
camp  of,  144,  147;  legal  defence 
of  attitude  toward  slaves,  146 


pALDWELL,  A.  B.,  128 

^  California,  Upper,  12;  admis 
sion  of,  13;  first  election  in,  350 

Cameron,  Simon,  Butler's  treat 
ment  of  slaves  approved  by,  146 

Campbell,  John  A.,  commissioner 
to  Hampton  Roads  conference, 

393,  395 
Campbell,  William  B.,  election  of, 

415 


5io 


INDEX 


Canby,  General  E.  R.  S.,  Lin 
coln's  letter  to,  402 

Carey,  John  B.,  fugitive  slave  law 
pleaded  by,  144 

Carlile,  John  S.,  98;  election  of, 
103;  admission  of,  to  United 
States  Senate,  104;  speech  on 
admission  of  West  Virginia, 
in;  term  expires,  131;  recon 
struction  speech  of,  267 
.  Chadsey,  Charles  E.,  President 
Johnson's  surrender  to  the 
South  explained  by,  489 

Chandler,  Lucius  H.,  Representa 
tive-elect  from  Virginia,  131; 
remarks  of,  132;  exclusion  of, 

133 

Chandler,  Zachariah,  interest  in 
reconstruction  bill,  274;  Sum- 
ner's  opposition  to  Trumbull's 
resolution  supported  by,  380 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  on  admission 
of  West  Virginia,  121;  author 
ized  to  organize  labor  of  aban 
doned  slaves,  160,  386;  eman 
cipation  favored  by,  180; 
quotation  from  diary  of,  186; 
conservatism  of  Lincoln  ob 
served  by,  275;  Andrew  John 
son  takes  oath  of  office  before, 
408 

Chattanooga,  4;  taken  by  Federal 
forces,  22 

Clark,  Daniel,  remarks  on  recon 
struction  by,  376 

Clarke,  Governor  Charles,  in 
surgent  legislature  convoked 
by,  459;  imprisonment  of,  460; 
petition  for  pardon  of,  460 

Clarke,  Isaac  E.,  43 

Cleveland,  Tennessee,  4 

Colfax,  Schuyler,  on  admission  of 
West  Virginia,  115 

Collamer,  Jacob,  on  admission  of 
West  Virginia,  in;  substitute 
of,  328;  amendment  of  substi 
tute,  334;  defeat  of  amendment 
of,  334;  defeat  of  substitute  of, 
336;  remarks  on  electoral  vote 
of  Louisiana  by,  328,  335 

Colonization,  suggested  by  Lin 
coln,  153;  resolutions  of  Balti 
more  Union  Convention  on, 
167;  message  of  Governor 
Brownlow  on,  416 


Colored  troops,  Lincoln  urges 
raising  of,  20,  22;  General  Hun 
ter  recommends  raising  of,  180; 
policy  of  enlistment  of,  386 

Committee,  Central  Executive  of 
Louisiana,  53 

Committee,  Free  State  General  of 
Louisiana,  47,  54,  59,  61;  con 
troversy  of,  with  General 
Banks,  62;  confers  with  Gen 
eral  Shepley,  63;  friends  of, 
protest  against  election,  70 

Confederate  army,  Louisiana 
troops  in,  37;  Arkansas  troops 
in,  80;  driven  from  western 
Virginia,  98 

Confederate  Government,  offer  of 
Arkansas  to,  80;  Arkansas  not 
aided  by,  81,  82;  hold  of,  weak 
ened  in  Arkansas,  83;  aid  from 
border  States  expected  by,  171 

Confederate  officers,  disfranchise- 
ment  of,  236 

Confederate  States,  theory  that 
disunionists  were  in  a  minority 
in,  192;  functionaries  in,  not 
bound  by  oaths,  204;  govern 
ments  of,  vacated,  205;  govern 
ments  could  be  organized  by 
Congress  in,  206;  Constitution 
the  only  law  in,  206;  power  of 
Congress  over,  210;  people  of, 
unable  to  plead  Constitution, 
212;  original  idea  relative  to  re 
organization  of,  213;  Stevens's 
idea  of  status  of,  214;  status  of, 
260;  approaching  disruption  of, 
286;  rights  of  citizens  in,  366; 
political  rights  of  people  in, 
367;  no  foreign  engagements 
entered  into  by,  391;  anarchy 
threatens  many  of,  409,  431; 
Federal  troops  preserve  order 
in,  432;  obstacles  to  restora 
tion  in,  432;  blockade  of,  444; 
importance  of  understanding 
public  opinion  in,  471;  legisla 
tion  of,  472;  prompt  acquies 
cence  of,  472;  sentiments  of 
citizens  of,  474;  Congress  ex 
cludes  delegations  from,  474; 
reaction  in,  482;  Northern  ex 
ample  no  defence  of  legislation 
in,  485;  reconstructed  not  very 
different  from  disloyal  govern- 


INDEX 


511 


ments  of,  486;  States  repre 
sented  at  opening  of  39th  Con 
gress,  489;  Congress  ignores 
claims  of  members  from,  490 
Confiscation,  in  Arkansas,  78 
Congress,  amnesty  authorized  by, 
24;  President  disclaims  author 
ity  to  admit  members  to,  26; 
electoral  vote  of  Tennessee  ex 
cluded  by,  35;  Representatives 
from  Louisiana  admitted  to, 
46;  Louisiana  elects  members 
to,  55;  organization  of,  55; 
Louisiana  not  redistricted  by, 
57;  A.  P.  Field  denied  admis 
sion  to,  60;  Louisiana  elects 
members  to,  76;  government  of 
Louisiana  not  recognized  by, 
76;  electoral  vote  of  Louisiana 
excluded  by,  76;  Arkansas 
elects  members  to,  91;  con 
sents  to  transfer  of  Virginia 
counties,  127;  resolution  on 
compensated  emancipation 
passed  by,  167;  slavery  in  Ter 
ritories  abolished  by,  170;  con 
fiscation  act  of,  179;  restored 
Virginia  recognized  by,  191; 
President  in  agreement  with, 
191;  slavery  in  rebellious  States 
should  be  ended  by,  197;  power 
possessed  over  seceding  States 
by,  206;  doctrines  of  Stevens 
abhorrent  to  members  of,  216; 
unanimity  of,  221;  reconstruc 
tion  discussed  by,  224;  form  of 
State  government  should  be  de 
termined  by,  228;  reconstruc 
tion  bill  passed  by,  273;  Lin 
coln's  contest  with,  284; 
President  disclaims  right  to 
admit  members  to,  287;  con 
stitutional  amendment  passed 
by,  288;  exclusion  of  electoral 
votes  by  resolution  of,  338; 
protest  against  admission  of 
members  to,  341;  power  to  re 
admit  States  resides  in,  358; 
authority  over  rebellious  States 
possessed  by,  365;  desire  to 
discipline  South  winning  adhe 
rents  in,  407;  Johnson's  distrust 
of,  461;  why  reconstruction 
conventions  should  have  been 
called  by,  470;  Southern  States 


reorganized  at  meeting  of,  486; 
Johnson  intended  to  be  guided 
by,  488;  Presidential  system 
suspended  by  legislation  of, 
489 ;  Southern  members  not  ad 
mitted  to,  490;  reconstruction 
assumed  by,  490;  suffrage  in  the 
first  reconstruction  measure, 
494 

Confederate  Congress,  36;  admis 
sion  of  Arkansas  delegates  to, 

.  79 

Contrabands,  multitudes  of,  in 
camp  of  General  Butler,  147 

Constitution,  The,  those  who  re 
pudiate  cannot  plead  provisions 
of,  212,  213;  ceases  to  be  a 
restraint  on  Government,  213; 
State  in  rebellion  not  embraced 
by,  214;  scope  of  not  contracted 
by  secession  ordinances,  218; 
necessity  as  an  interpreter  of, 
222;  number  of  States  necessary 
to  ratify  amendment  of,  232; 
Georgia  adopts  Thirteenth 
Amendment  of,  466 

Constitutional  Union  men,  attitude 
of,  7 

Convention  bill,  defeated  by  popu 
lar  vote  in  Tennessee,  8 

Convention,  Lincoln  nominated 
by  the  Chicago,  i;  Southern 
commercial  held  at  Knoxville, 
6;  the  Greeneville,  9;  the  Nash 
ville,  30;  meeting  of  the 
Louisiana  constitutional,  75; 
the  Arkansas  constitutional,  87; 
the  Richmond  secession,  93; 
the  Wheeling,  99,  104;  ordi 
nances  of  the  Wheeling,  100; 
the  Wheeling  votes  on  dis 
memberment,  101;  the  Wheel 
ing  adjourns,  101,  107;  the 
Wheeling  authorizes  formation 
of  new  State,  105;  slavery  in 
the  Wheeling,  107;  meeting  of 
the  Baltimore  Union,  167; 
revolutionary  character  of  the 
Wheeling,  468 

Conventions,  the  reconstruction, 
character  of,  468;  irregularity 
of  those  called  under  Presi 
dential  plan,  469;  why  Congress 
should  have  called,  470;  char 
acter  and  work  of  those  called 


5I2 


INDEX 


by    President    Johnson,    470; 

origin  would  not  affect  work 

of,  if  acquiesced  in,  472 
Conway,  Martin,  speech  on  West 

Virginia  by,  113    . 
Cooper,  Edmund,  election  of,  415 
Cooper  Union,  Lincoln's  address 

in,  i;  relief  meeting  in,  150 
Cottman,  Thomas,  48;  election  of, 

56;  Lincoln's  letter  to,  64 
Cotton    States,    aid    from    border 

States  expected  by,  161 
Cowan,    Edgar,    on   admission   of 

Mr.    Segar,    139;    remarks   on 

electoral  vote  of  Louisiana,  330, 

332;     inquiry    of,     concerning 

electoral  votes,  338 
Cox,    Samuel    S.,    reconstruction 

speech  of,  252 
Crane,  Samuel,  128 
Cravens,  James  A.,  reconstruction 

speech  of,  249 
Creole,  The,  6 
Crisfield,  John  W.,  interview  with 

Lincoln  reported  by,  163 
Crittenden,    John    J.,    speech    on 

West  Virginia  by,  116 
Crittenden    Resolution,    introduc 
tion  of,  220;  Mr.  Strouse  refers 

to,  249 

Cruisers,  Confederate,  50 
Curtin,  Governor  Andrew  G.,  98 
Cutler,     R.     King,     Senator-elect 

from  Louisiana,  76,  343,  424 


DAVIS,  GARRETT,  admission 
of  West  Virginia  Senators 
opposed  by,  128;  resolutions  of, 
210 

Davis,  Henry  Winter,  remarks  on 
Louisiana  election,  58;  amend 
ment  of,  225;  chairman  of 
Committee  on  Rebellious 
States,  226;  reconstruction  ad 
dress  of,  226;  on  Southern 
loyalists,  231;  on  modes  of 
establishing  republican  govern 
ments,  232;  Thirteenth  Amend 
ment  approved  by,  232;  policy 
of  Lincoln  criticised  by,  232; 
protest  of  against  policy  of 
Lincoln,  279;  character  of,  283; 


defeat  of,  for  renomination, 
284;  postponement  of  Ashley's 
bill  opposed  by,  295;  recon 
struction  speech  of,  307;  last 
reconstruction  speech  in  Con 
gress,  310;  alliance  with  Ste 
vens,  311;  motion  relative  to 
Louisiana,  341 

Davis,  Jefferson,  Blair's  interview 
with,  391;  proposal  for  joint 
invasion  of  Mexico  entertained 
by,  392;  letter  to  Mr.  Blair, 
393;  on  Lincoln's  assassination, 
407;  members  of  Mississippi 
convention  intercede  for,  460; 
Georgia  convention  invokes 
Executive  clemency  in  behalf 
of,  466 

Davis  -  Wade  Bill,  passed  by 
House,  262;  passed  by  Senate, 
273;  Lincoln's  action  on,  273; 
proclamation  concerning,  277; 
no  provision  for  negro  suffrage 
in,  494 

Dawes,  Henry  L.,  on  Louisiana 
Representatives,  56;  on  admis 
sion  of  West  Virginia,  116; 
report  on  Mr.  Segar's  election, 
131;  on  election  of  Mr.  Chand 
ler,  132;  reconstruction  speech 
of,  295;  Mr.  Davis's  criticism 
of,  306;  bill  of  Representative 
Wilson  criticised  by,  312;  re 
port  on  election  of  Mr.  Bon- 
zano,  341;  remarks  of,  342 

Delaware,  slave  interest  in,  155; 
Lincoln's  bill  for  compensated 
emancipation  in,  155;  Federal 
ist  party  in,  157;  Federal  inter 
ference  in,  377 

Democratic  party,  defeat  of,  i; 
vote  of,  in  West  Virginia,  129; 
reconstruction  theory  of,  218; 
attitude  on  reconstruction,  220; 
negro  suffrage  opposed  by 
New  Orleans  convention  of, 
421;  South  misled  by  attitude 
of,  483 

Dennison,  Charles,  reconstruction 
speech  of,  247 

Dennison,  William,  32 

Dickinson,  Daniel  S.,  33 

District  of  Columbia,  slaves  not 
allowed  to  depart  from,  148; 
colored  persons  liable  to  arrest 


INDEX 


if  found  in,  152;  compensation 
to  owners  of  slaves  in,  167 

Dix,  General  John  A.,  33;  treat 
ment  of  fugitive  slaves  by,  149 

Donnelly,  Ignatius,  reconstruction 
speech  of,  245 

Doolittle,  James  R.,  credentials  of 
Mr.  Underwood  offered  by, 
141 ;  reconstruction  bill  op 
posed  by,  273;  on  electoral  vote 
of  Louisiana,  324,  326,  333; 
remarks  on  Louisiana,  348; 
policy  of  Administration  sup 
ported  by,  380;  credentials  of 
Mr.  Hahn  offered  by,  383 

Doubleday,  General  Abner,  treat 
ment  of  fugitive  slaves  by,  159 

Douglas-Lincoln  debates,  I 

Dorr,  Thomas  W.,  government 
under,  350 

Dunlap,  George  W.,  admission  of 
West  Virginia  opposed  by,  214 

Durant,  Thomas  J.,  47;  Attorney- 
General  of  Louisiana,  48;  regis 
try  conducted  by,  51;  spokes 
man  of  planters,  53;  enrollment 
by,  satisfactory  to  Lincoln,  63; 
disagreement  with  General 
Banks,  65;  protest  of,  against 
election,  348;  recognition  of 
Louisiana  opposed  by,  378 

Durell,  E.  H.,  75 


FAST,  E.  H.,  28 

Edgerton,  Joseph  K.,  recon 
struction  speech  of,  219,  301 

Election,  Presidential,  loss  of  a 
pretext  for  secession,  i;  in 
Tennessee,  29;  in  Arkansas,  92; 
in  West  Virginia,  129;  electoral 
votes  in,  338;  result  of,  339 

Elections,  Committee  of,  report  on 
Louisiana  Representative,  56 

Electoral  College,  bill  on  repre 
sentation  in,  314 

Eliot,  Thomas  W.,  amendment  to 
reconstruction  bill  offered  by, 
289;  reconstruction  speech  of, 
292;  Stevens' s  interruption  of, 
294;  Davis's  criticism  of,  306; 
bill  for  bureau  of  emancipation 
introduced  by,  386 


Emancipation,  in  Tennessee,  22; 
East  Tennessee  convention 
favors  immediate,  29;  Lincoln's 
proclamation  of,  47;  proclama 
tion  of  not  to  be  revoked,  52; 
vote  on,  in  West  Virginia,  110; 
in  West  Virginia  constitution, 
125;  Lincoln  suggests  compen 
sated,  155;  Lincoln  considering, 
178;  discussion  in  Cabinet,  180; 
draft  of  proclamation  of,  181; 
urged  by  Chicago  clergymen, 
184;  not  hastened  by  deputa 
tions,  186;  Lincoln  reads  proc 
lamation  of,  187;  Sumner  pro 
poses  to  convert  proclamation 
of,  into  law,  272;  effect  of 
proclamation  on  status  of 
slaves,  384;  discussed  at  Hamp 
ton  Roads  Conference,  398; 
Lincoln  favored  gradual,  398 

Emancipation,  compensated,  Lin 
coln  prepares  bill  on,  155; 
message  refers  to,  161;  New 
York  Tribune  favors,  164; 
resolution  of  Congress  on,  167; 
Baltimore  Union  convention's 
resolution  on,  167;  House  of 
Representatives  appoints  com 
mittee  on,  168 

Emancipator,  The,  5 

England,  Cromwell's  division  of, 
200 

Europe,  the  civil  war  pleasing  to 
powers  of,  393 


F 

FEDERALIST,  The,  269 

x  Fellows,  John  Q.  A.,  nomina 
tion  of,  69;  defeat  of,  70 

Fishback,  William  M.,  Lincoln's 
letter  to,  89;  election  of,  91 

Fisher,  George  P.,  interest  in 
compensated  emancipation,  155 

Flanders,  Benjamin  F.,  election  of, 
46;  Lincoln's  letter  to,  52;  vote 
received  by,  60;  interview  with 
Lincoln,  63;  nomination  of,  69; 
defeat  of,  70;  hostility  of  Con 
gress  toward  Louisiana  said  to 
have  been  promoted  by,  73 

Florida,  martial  law  proclaimed 
over,  168;  unworthy  of  a  place 


INDEX 


in  the  Union,  256;  insurrection 
in,  314;  damage  sustained  by, 
436;  nature  of  reorganized  gov 
ernment  of,  488 

Florida,  The,  capture  of,  288 

Forfeiture,  State,  idea  of,  204 

Forrest,  General,'  15 

Fort  Donelson,  General  Grant  in 
possession  of,  10 

Fort  Henry,  Federal  occupation 
of,  10 

Fortress  Monroe,  fugitive  slaves 
at,  144,  385 

Foster,  Lafayette  S.,  reconstruc 
tion  policy  of  Lincoln  support 
ed  by,  380 

Fowler,  Joseph  S.,  election  of,  413 

France,  relations  with,  409 

Franchise,  elective,  in  Tennessee 
to  be  fixed  by  Legislature,  30; 
free  negroes  of  Louisiana  peti 
tion  for,  55;  States  have  always 
exercised  right  to  confer,  452 

Franchise,  negro,  Lincoln's  opin 
ion  concerning,  73.  See  Ne 
groes 

Frederick  City,  184 

Frederic  County,  provision  for 
annexing  to  West  Virginia,  no 

Freedmen,  no  provision  for  educa 
tion  of,  298;  Brownlow  would 
admit  testimony  of,  416;  char 
acter  of,  416;  Southern  feeling 
toward,  475;  Mississippi  legis 
lation  relative  to,  475 

Freedmen's  Aid  Societies,  Lincoln 
memorialized  by,  386 

Freedmen's  Bureau,  act  of  Con 
gress  relative  to,  385,  387; 
germ  of,  386;  duties  of  commis 
sioner  of,  387;  Governor  of 
Arkansas  cooperates  with,  411; 
influence  in  producing  South 
ern  reaction,  483;  political  as 
pirations  of  agents  of,  484 

Fremont,  General  John  C,  proc 
lamation  concerning  slaves, 
148;  Lincoln's  letter  to,  148; 
reply  to  Lincoln,  149 

Fugitive  slaves,  repeal  of  acts  for 
rendition  of,  144;  exclusion 
from  Department  of  Washing 
ton,  148 


QANTT,    GENERAL    E.    W., 

secession  abjured  by,  83 
Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  7 
Georgia,  martial  law  proclaimed 
over,  168;  Boutwell  would  ex 
clude  from  restored  Union, 
256;  insurrection  in,  314;  in 
juries  sustained  by,  433;  Gover 
nor  Brown's  efforts  at  restora 
tion  of,  465;  appointment  of 
provisional  governor  for,  465; 
leading  ex-Confederates  aid 
governor,  465;  reconstruction 
convention  of,  465;  convention 
repeals  secession  ordinance, 
465;  war  debt  repudiated  by, 
465;  slaves  freed  by  constitu 
tion  of,  466;  Executive  clem 
ency  in  behalf  of  Jefferson 
Davis  invoked  by  convention. 

.,  4156 

Germans,  The,  indifferent  to  seces 
sion,  80 

Gilmore-Jacquess  mission,  389 

Gooch,  Daniel  W.,  reconstruction 
address  of,  250 

Government,  a  republican  form 
guaranteed  by  reconstruction 
proclamation,  26;  perfection  of 
Congressional  system,  385 

Grant,  General  Ulysses  S.,  in  pos 
session  of  Forts  Henry  and 
Donelson,  10;  martial  law  pro 
claimed  by,  15;  at  Mission 
Ridge  and  Lookout  Mountain, 
23;  Lee  driven  back  by,  288; 
Blair  visits  camp  of,  391 ;  influ 
ence  in  bringing  about  Hamp 
ton  Roads  Conference,  396; 
movements  by  army  of,  401; 
management  of  Freedmen's 
Bureau  criticised  by,  484 

Great  Britain,  relations  with,  409 

Greeley,  Horace,  390 

Greeneville,  Tennessee,  4,  9 

Grimes,  James  W.,  remarks  on 
Louisiana  election,  382 

Gulf,  Department  of,  Butler  re 
lieved  from  command  in,  40; 
General  Banks  in  command  of, 


INDEX 


H 

"LJAHN,  MICHAEL,  election 
AA  of,  46;  Lincoln's  letter  to, 
52;  vote  of,  60;  nomination  of, 
69;  election  of,  70;  oath  of,  72; 
Lincoln's  letter  to,  73;  election 
of  delegates  authorized  by,  74; 
election  called  by,  75;  creden 
tials  filed  in  U.  S.  Senate,  383, 
418,  424 

Hall,  Ellery  R.,  107 
Hall,  John,  107 

Hale,  John  P.,  on  admission  of 
West  Virginia,  in;  on  electoral 
vote  of  Louisiana,  325 
Halleck,  General  H.  W.,  Tennes 
see  included  in  department  of, 
20;  General  Buell  instructed  by, 
21 ;  General  Banks  instructed 
by,  51;  order  on  surrender  of 
fugitive  slaves,  158 
Hamilton,  Andrew  J.,  appoint 
ment  of,  467 

Hampton  Roads  Conference,  396; 
Confederate  commissioners  to, 
report  failure,  400;  results  of, 
400 

Harris,  Ira,  remarks  on  Critten- 
den  resolution  by,  222;  re 
marks  on  electoral  vote  of 
Louisiana,  323,  334;  amend 
ment  offered  by,  334 
Harris,  Isham  G.,  authorized  to 
appoint  commissioners,  8;  Leg 
islature  convoked  at  Memphis 
by,  15 

Harlan,  James,  bill  of,  195 
Hawkins,  Isaac  R.,  election  of,  4*5 
Hay  and  Nicolay,  account  of  Lin 
coln's  message  by,  24;   quota 
tion  from  history  of,  273 
Helena,  Arkansas,  Union  occupa 
tion  of,  82,  86 

Henderson,  John  B.,  reply  to  Lin 
coln's  appeal,  177;  reconstruc 
tion  bill  opposed  by,  273; 
recognition  of  Louisiana  fa 
vored  by,  348;  inconsistency  of 
Sumner  exposed  by,  375,.  377; 
inquiry  concerning  Louisiana 
loyalists,  378;  letter  on  recon 
struction,  495 
Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  Republi 


can   factiousness   agreeable   to, 
380 
Hiestand,   Judge  J.,   appointment 

of,  41 

Holden,  William  W.,  appointment 
of,  448;  proclamation  of,  450; 
message  of,  454;  President 
Johnson's  telegram  to,  455; 
public  career  of,  457;  Republi 
can  leaders  alarmed  at  appoint 
ment  of,  459 
Holman,  William  S.,  resolution 

introduced  by,  222 
Hood,  General  J.  B.,  30 
Hooker,    General    Joseph,    treat 
ment  of  fugitive  slaves,  158 
Howard,   Jacob   M.,   on   electoral 
vote    of    Louisiana,    328;     on 
recognition  of  Louisiana,  358; 
Sumner's  opposition  to  Trum- 
bull's  resolution  supported  by, 
380 

Howard,      Oliver     O.,     General, 
Freedmen's    Bureau   organized 
by,  389 
Howe,  Timothy  O.,  speech  on  Ten 

Eyck's  amendment,  321 
Howell,  Rufus  K.,  41 
Hughes,  Augustus  de  B.,  43 
Humphreys,  Benjamin  G.,  election 

and  pardon  of,  464 
Hungary,  similarity  of  ideas  lack 
ing  in,  237 

Hunter,   General   David,   freedom 
of  slaves  proclaimed  by,    168; 
authority   to   arm   negroes   re 
quested  by,  180 
Hunter,  Robert  M.  T.,  authorized 

to  act  as  commissioner,  395 
Hurlbut,  General  S.  A.,  on  reor 
ganization    of    Tennessee,    21; 
Lincoln's  letters  to,  84,  401 


ILLINOIS,  amendment  abolish- 
A     ing  slavery  adopted  by,  384 
Indiana,  troops  from,  assist  west 
ern  Virginians,  98 
Intelligencer,  The  National,  61 
Ireland,  unsuccessful  campaign  of 
James  II  in,  203;  similarity  of 
ideas  lacking  in,  237 
Irish,  The,  indifference  to  seces 
sion,  80 


5i6 


INDEX 


TACKS,   T.    M.,    Congressman- 
J     elect,  91;  proposed  compensa 
tion  to,  342 

Jackson,  General  Andrew,  new 
industrial  era  marked  by  in 
auguration  of,  5;  invasion  by 
way  of  Mexico  expected  by, 
392 

Jacquess-Gllmore  mission,  389 
James  II,  King,  abdication  of,  202 
Jefferson    County,    provision    for 
annexation  of,  no;  annexation 
of,  127 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  declaration  of, 

Johnson,  Andrew,  12;  in  Thirtieth 
Congress,  14;  people  of  Nash 
ville  addressed  by,  15;  activity 
of,  18;  Nashville  saved  by,  19; 
Lincoln's  opinion  of,  19;  ad 
dresses  of,  19;  urged  to  raise 
negro  troops,  20;  Lincoln's  let 
ter  to,  22;  enlarged  authority  of, 
23;  Nashville  meeting  called  by, 
27;  election  of  county  officers 
authorized  by,  27;  proclamation 
of,  31;  nomination  of,  for  Vice- 
Presidency,  32;  Nashville  ad 
dress  of,  32;  letter  of,  to  Mr. 
Dennison,  32;  popularity  in  the 
North,  33;  credentials  of  West 
Virginia  Senators  presented  by, 
103;  resolution  offered  by,  221; 
election  of,  as  Vice-President, 
339;  installation  of,  as  Presi 
dent,  408;  problem  confronting, 
408;  letter  to  Governor  Mur 
phy,  411;  despatch  to  Governor 
Brownlow,  414;  reconstruction 
policy  endorsed  by  National 
Democratic  party,  420;  Lin 
coln's  policy  alleged  to  have 
been^  changed  by,  426;  Pier- 
pont's  government  recognized 
by,  427;  Nashville  speech  of, 
438;  forecast  of  policy  of,  439; 
addresses  of,  440;  visit  of  Il 
linois  delegation  to,  440;  visit 
of  Indiana  delegation  to,  442; 
visit  of  negro  delegation,  443; 
South  Carolina  delegation  ad 
dressed  by,  443;  blockade  part 


ly  raised  by,  444;  blockade  of 
trans-Mississippi  ports  rescind 
ed  by,  445;  work  done  for  re 
construction  retained  by,  447; 
Lincoln's  policy  need  not  have 
been  adopted  by,  447;  at  in 
auguration  sentiments  of  Con 
gress  already  known  to,  448; 
results  of  attempting  reunion 
without  cooperation  of  Con 
gress,  448;  reconstruction  of 
North  Carolina  begun  by,  448; 
amnesty  proclamation  of,  450; 
cases  excluded  from  benefits  of 
amnesty,  450;  reconstruction 
plan  of,  based  on  guaranty 
clause  of  Constitution,  452; 
telegram  to  Governor  Holden, 
455;  visit  of  North  Carolina 
delegation  to,  456;  North  Caro 
lina  election  unsatisfactory  to, 
457;  interview  of  Boutwell  and 
Morrill  with,  458;  William  L. 
Sharkey  appointed  Provisional 
Governor  by,  459;  appointment 
of  provisional  governors  by, 
459;  telegram  to  Governor 
Sharkey,  461;  attitude  of  Con 
gress  characterized  by,  461; 
Governor  Sharkey' s  reorganiza 
tion  of  militia  approved  by, 
462;  Mississippi  people  trusted 
by,  463;  change  in  sentiments 
of,  463,  488;  General  Slocum 
directed  to  revoke  order  by, 
463;  proceedings  in  reconstruc 
tion  conventions  directed  by, 
465;  organization  of  a  police 
force  for  Georgia  approved  by, 
466;  policy  toward  Congress 
unknown  in  the  South,  483; 
prompt  acquiescence  of  South 
in  policy  of,  486;  reconstruction 
theory  similar  to  Lincoln's, 
487;  falling  back  from  Lin 
coln's  plan,  487;  Lincoln's  Cab 
inet  retained  by,  488;  change  of 
attitude  of,  489;  influence  of 
Seward  upon,  489;  movement 
to  procure  resignation  from 
Vice-Presidency,  489;  limita 
tions  of,  490;  reconstruction 
work  of,  not  marked  by  orig 
inality,  491 ;  negro  suffrage,  494 
Johnson,  Bradish,  48 


INDEX 


Johnson,  Herschel  V.,  election  of, 
465 

Johnson,  James,  appointment  of, 
459,  465 

Johnson,  James  M.,  election  of, 
91;  proposed  compensation  to, 
342;  election  of,  412 

Johnson,  Reverdy,  in  New  Or 
leans,  38;  on  electoral  vote  of 
Louisiana,  335;  on  President's 
message,  339;  remarks  on 
recognition  of  Louisiana,  370; 
Sumner's  argument  with,  374; 
remarks  on  negro  suffrage, 
378;  recognition  of  Arkansas 
and  Louisiana  favored  by,  378 

Johnson,  R.  W.,  secession  of,  91 

Johnston,  General  Joseph  E.t  re 
tires  to  Murfreesboro,  n 

Jones,  Hon.  Ira  P.,  12 

Jordan,  Warren,  27 


K 


IT  ANAWHA,  proposed  State  of, 
105;  change  in  name  of,  107 

Kearney,  General  Stephen  W.,  12 

Kelley,  William  D.,  reconstruction 
speech  of,  252,  291 ;  proposes 
amendment  of  Ashley's  bill, 
312;  Field's  assault  of,  342 

Kernan,  Francis,  bill  of  Mr.  Wil 
son  criticised  by,  312 

Kimball,  General,  86 

King,  Preston,  Mr.  Johnson  influ 
enced  by,  441 

Kingwood,  Va.,  Union  meeting 
at,  99 

Kitchen,  Benjamin  M.,  Repre 
sentative-elect,  131;  denied  ad 
mission  to  Congress,  133 

Knoxville,  early  capital  of  Ten 
nessee,  4;  Southern  Commer 
cial  Convention  held  at,  6; 
taken  by  Federal  forces,  22 

Kyle,  G.  H.,  election  of,  412 


TAMONT,  GEORGE  D.,  43 

Lane,  James  H.,  on  electoral 
vote  of  Louisiana,  337 

LeBlond,    Frank   C,    reconstruc 
tion  speech  of,  300 

Lee,  General  Robert  E.,  Maryland 


invaded  by,  183;  repulse  of, 
186;  driven  back  by  Grant,  288; 
weakness  of,  401;  surrender  of, 
426 

Leftwich,  John  W.,  election  of, 
415 

Letcher,  Governor  John,  United 
States  could  not  recognize,  205, 
445 

Lieber,  Dr.  Francis,  150,  151; 
Sumner's  letters  to,  199,  289 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  Cooper  Union 
address  of,  i;  conservatism  of, 
i;  nomination  of,  i;  border 
State  delegations  support  of,  i; 
popular  vote  received  by,  i; 
peer  of  tried  Republican  lead 
ers,  i;  policy  of,  2;  sympathy 
for  Tennessee  loyalists,  3,  10; 
Andrew  Johnson  appointed  by, 
II ;  in  Thirtieth  Congress,  14; 
authority  for  appointing  mili 
tary  governors,  14;  view  of 
their  utility,  20;  letter  to  Gover 
nor  Johnson,  20,  22;  authority 
of  Johnson  enlarged  by,  23;  re 
ply  to  General  Rosecrans,  23; 
proclamation  issued  by,  23; 
authority  to  admit  members  to 
Congress  disclaimed  by,  26; 
enrolling  agents  sent  to  Ten 
nessee,  Arkansas,  and  Louisi 
ana  by,  27;  renomination  of, 
32;  declined  to  interfere  in 
nominating  convention,  34;  re 
ply  to  protest  of  McClellan 
electors,  35;  letter  to  Cuthbert 
Bullett,  39;  letter  to  August 
Belmont,  39;  Court  of  Record 
for  Louisiana  constituted  by, 
42;  letter  to  General  Butler  and 
others,  44;  restoration  of 
Louisiana  urged  by,  44;  letter 
to  General  Shepley,  44;  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation  pub 
lished  by,  47;  requested  to  or 
der  an  election,  48;  reply  to 
Louisiana  committee,  48;  more 
advanced  ground  taken  by,  49; 
letter  to  General  Banks  and 
others,  51;  urges  restoration, 
51;  enrollment  of  Durant  ap 
proved  by,  63;  willingness  to 
recognize  part  of  Louisiana, 
63;  letter  to  Thomas  Cottman, 


5i8 


INDEX 


64;  letter  to  General  Banks,  65; 
General  Banks's  letter  to,  66; 
Banks's  services  appreciated 
by,  67;  authority  conferred  on 
General  Banks  by,  67;  Banks 
on  Louisiana  election,  70;  let 
ter  to  Governor  Hahn,  73;  au 
thority  of  Mr.  Hahn  enlarged 
by,  73;  letter  to  General  Hurl- 
but,  84;  letter  to  General  Steele, 
89;  letter  to  William  M.  Fish- 
back,  89;  result  of  Arkansas 
election  gratifying  to,  91;  re 
quests  opinion  of  Cabinet  on 
admission  of  West  Virginia, 
119,  124;  approves  bill  for  ad 
mission  of  West  Virginia,  125; 
proclamation  concerning  West 
Virginia,  126;  letter  to  General 
Butler,  136;  slavery  in  first  in 
augural  of,  143;  letter  to  Gen 
eral  Fremont,  148;  General  Fre 
mont  instructed  by,  149;  Ban 
croft's  letter  to,  151;  letter  to 
Mr.  Bancroft,  152;  emancipa 
tion  and  colonization  suggested 
by,  153;  advance  in  position  of, 
154;  arming  of  slaves  opposed 
by,  154,  180;  bill  for  compen 
sated  emancipation  drafted  by, 
155;  Mr.  Pierce's  interview 
with,  160;  compensated  eman 
cipation  proposed  by,  161; 
further  advance  in  position  of, 
162;  letter  to  Henry  J.  Ray 
mond,  163;  border  State  Con 
gressmen  interview,  163;  letter 
to  James  A.  McDougall,  165; 
proclamation  of  General  Hun 
ter  rescinded  by,  168;  Sumner's 
letter  concerning,  170;  border 
State  Congressmen  appealed  to, 
171 ;  emancipation  proposed  by, 
178;  confiscation  act  approved 
by,  179;  draft  of  emancipation 
proclamation  read  by,  181;  re 
bellious  citizens  warned  by, 
183;  Chicago  clergymen  inter 
view,  184;  resolves  to  issue 
postponed  proclamation,  186; 
meeting  of  Cabinet,  186;  eman 
cipation  proclamation  read  by, 
187;  first  inaugural  of,  190; 
central  idea  of  reconstruction 
plan  of,  190;  confidence  in  ulti 


mate  success,  191;  Congress 
substantially  agrees  with,  191; 
change  in  policy  of,  193;  only 
one  plan  of  reconstruction  pro 
posed  by,  194;  remarks  on 
Blair-Sumner  controversy,  208; 
reconstruction  plan  of,  criti 
cised  by  Henry  Winter  Davis, 
232;  Mr.  Donnelly's  character 
of,  245;  Mr.  Boutwell  defends 
reconstruction  policy,  254; 
treatment  of  reconstruction  bill 
by,  273;  Sumner's  opinion  of, 
275;  proclamation  on  recon 
struction  bill,  277;  Wade-Davis 
manifesto  concerning  action  of, 
279;  result  of  contest  with  Con 
gress,  284;  reelection  of,  286; 
silence  as  to  controversy  with 
Congress,  286;  no  right  over 
admission  of  Congressmen 
claimed  by,  287;  adoption  of 
more  vigorous  measures  hinted 
at,  287;  resolution  relative  to 
electoral  votes  approved  by, 
339;  electoral  votes  received  by, 
339;  popular  approval  of  Thir 
teenth  Amendment  pleasing  to, 
385;  Freedmen's  Aid  Societies 
appeal  to,  386;  Mr.  Blair's  visit 
to,  390;  Blair's  mission  not 
officially  sanctioned  by,  391; 
letter  to  Mr.  Blair,  394;  letter 
to  Secretary  Seward,  395;  con 
ference  opposed  by,  except  on 
basis  of  reunion,  397;  last 
speech  on  reconstruction,  403; 
assassination  of,  a  calamity  to 
the  South,  407;  policy  would 
have  saved  South  from  many 
evils,  407;  telegram  to  Gover 
nor  Pierpont,  426;  Pierppnt's 
interview  with,  426;  attitude 
toward  Confederate  legislatures, 
470;  a  loose  system  of  recon 
struction  opposed  by,  487;  re 
construction  theory  of,  similar 
to  Johnson's,  487;  President 
Johnson  retains  Cabinet  of, 
488;  constructive  statesmanship 
of,  491;  a  wide  constituency 
favored  by,  493;  conditions  on 
returning  States  imposed  by, 
494;  Mr.  Henderson's  views  on, 
495 


INDEX 


519 


Lincoln-Douglas  debates,  i 

Little  Rock,  seized  by  Confederate 
troops,  79;  threatened  by  Fed 
eral  forces,  82;  capture  of,  83; 
loyal  newspaper  published  in, 
83;  Union  convention  at,  87 

Liverpool,  abandoned  by  Confed 
erate  naval  agent,  50 

Longyear,  John  W.,  reconstruc 
tion  address  of,  244 

Lookout  Mountain,  battle  of,  23, 
224 

Louisiana,  effect  of  Union  vic 
tories  in,  10;  enrolling  agent 
sent  to,  27;  secession  spirit  in, 
36;  secession  of,  36;  prosperity 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  36; 
treasury  of,  37;  citizens  of,  in 
Confederate  army,  37;  blockade 
of  ports  in,  37;  attitude  toward 
Richmond  government,  37; 
loyalists  of,  37;  secessionists  of, 
intimidated,  38;  activity  of 
Unionists  in,  38;  necessity  of 
courts  in,  40;  courts  established 
in,  41;  court  of  record  for,  42; 
Supreme  Court  of,  43;  Lin 
coln  urges  restoration  of,  44; 
Union  associations  request  an 
election,  45;  proclamation  for 
an  election  in,  45;  members  of 
Congress  elected  in,  46;  vote 
cast  in,  46;  admission  of  Repre 
sentatives  to  Congress,  46; 
named  as  one  of  the  rebellious 
States,  47;  parishes  excepted 
from  emancipation  proclama 
tion,  47;  disagreement  among 
Unionists  of,  47;  enrollment  of 
citizens  in,  48;  Lincoln  visited 
by  committee  from,  48;  reor 
ganization  interrupted,  49;  por 
tion  covered  by  Union  arms, 
50;  Lincoln  urges  reconstruc 
tion  of,  52;  condition  of,  53; 
amended  constitution  of  1852 
destroyed  by  rebellion,  54;  vot 
ing  in,  55;  franchise  asked  by 
free  negroes,  55;  credentials  of 
Representatives  from,  56;  sup 
pression  of  election  in,  56; 
constitution  altered  by  General 
Shepley,  58;  citizens  from,  in 
Union  army,  60;  General  Banks 
to  order  an  election  in,  61,  64; 


Banks  on  reconstruction  in,  66; 
Banks  fixes  date  of  election  for, 
67;  constitution  modified  by 
proclamation  of  General  Banks, 
68;  provision  for  voting  of 
loyalists  in,  69;  election  in,  70; 
protest  against  election  in,  70; 
Hahn  inaugurated  Governor, 
72;  civil  subordinate  to  military 
power,  73;  Free  State  leaders 
unite  with  Radicals  in  Con 
gress,  74;  election  in,  74;  vote 
on  constitution,  75;  Legislature 
chosen  in,  76;  Presidential 
electors  appointed  for,  76,  195; 
Senators  elected  by,  76;  gov 
ernment  of,  not  recognized  by 
Congress,  76;  electoral  vote  of, 
129,  314;  radicals  propose  to 
recognize  government  of,  290; 
insurrection  in,  314;  amend 
ment  to  except  from  joint 
resolution,  315;  Ten  Eyck's 
speech  on  electoral  vote  of, 
318;  Howe's  speech  on  electoral 
vote  of,  321 ;  Trumbull's  speech 
on  electoral  vote  of,  321;  high 
est  vote  cast  in,  323;  remarks 
of  Harris  on  electoral  vote  of, 
323;  speech  of  Doolittle  on 
electoral  vote  of,  324;  remarks 
of  Hale  on  electoral  vote  of, 
325;  remarks  of  Collamer  on 
electoral  vote  of,  328;  Howard's 
speech  on  electoral  vote  of, 
328;  Cowan's  remarks  on  elec 
toral  vote  of,  330;  Powell  on 
electoral  vote  of,  331;  Wade's 
remarks  on  electoral  vote  of, 
332;  loss  of  Ten  Eyck's  amend 
ment  concerning,  334;  John 
son's  remarks  on  electoral  vote 
of,  335;  Pomeroy's  amendment, 
337;  passage  of  joint  resolution, 
338;  Cowan's  inquiry,  338; 
Senate  debate  on  recognition 
of,  341 ;  Representatives-elect 
from,  341;  protest  against  ad 
mission  of  members  from,  341 ; 
compensation  to  claimants 
from,  341;  United  States  Sen 
ators  chosen  in,  343;  Trum 
bull's  resolution  relative  to, 
343;  Powell  opposes  recogni 
tion  of,  344;  Henderson  favors 


520 


INDEX 


recognition  of,  348;  recognition 
of,  would  enfeeble  Union,  358; 
Howard's  speech  on  recog 
nition  of,  358;  governed  by 
bayonet,  367;  Howard  charac 
terizes  government  of,  369; 
Reverdy  Johnson's  argument 
on  recognition  of,  370,  377; 
Sprague's  remarks  on  election 
in,  381;  Grimes' s  remarks  on 
election  in,  382;  slavery  in 
parts  of,  not  affected  by  eman 
cipation  proclamation,  384; 
draft  in,  417;  election  in,  418; 
Mr.  Wells  chosen  Governor, 
422;  Warmoth  elected  as  Ter 
ritorial  Delegate,  422;  United 
States  Senators  chosen,  424; 
Thirteenth  Amendment  ratified 
by,  424;  injuries  which  rebel 
lion  inflicted  on,  424 

Lovejoy,  Owen,  resolution  offered 
by,  132;  resolution  of,  relative 
to  emancipation,  170;  doctrines 
of  Thaddeus  Stevens  repudiated 
by,  217 

Lundy,  Benjamin,  Genius  of  Uni 
versal  Emancipation  published 
by,  5 

Lyon,  General  Nathaniel,  79 

M 

Vf  ADISON,  parish  of,  75 
Malhiot,  E.  E.,  48 

Mallory,  Robert,  yeas  and  nays  on 
Ashley's  bill  demanded  by,  311; 
bill  of  Mr.  Wilson  criticised  by, 
312 

Manassas,  battle  of,  183 

Mann,  W.  D.,  Representative-elect 
from  Louisiana,  76;  seat  in 
Congress  claimed  by,  341 

Manumission  Intelligencer,  The,  5 

Marcy,  William,  Secretary,  12 

Marvin,  Governor,  Seward's  mes 
sage  to,  488 

Maryland,  attitude  on  emancipa 
tion,  165 

Mason,  James  M.,  103 

Mason,  Richard  B.,  13,  14 

Massachusetts,  sentiments  on  slav- 

_  _  e^  375 

Maynard,  Horace,  9,  10;  joins  in 
call  for  convention,  21;  eman 


cipation  policy  of  Lincoln  ap 
proved  by,  177;  election  of,  415 

Memphis,  Legislature  convenes  in, 
IS 

Mexico,  12,  13;  French  interests 
in,  50;  invasion  of,  a  part  of 
Napoleon's  policy,  391 ;  pro 
posal  for  joint  invasion  of,  392 

Mileage,  allowed  to  Arkansas 
claimants,  91 

Military  commissions,  12 

Military  Governor,  office  of,  II, 
12,  14,  193 

Minority,  loyal,  rule  by,  incon 
sistent  with  American  prin 
ciples,  205,  217;  should  institute 
government  for  their  own  pro 
tection,  353;  further  examina 
tion  of,  491 

Mission  Ridge,  battle  of,  23,  224 

Missouri,  provisional  government 
appointed  in,  10;  origin  of  gov 
ernment  of,  350 

Mississippi,  State  of,  in  Federal 
control,  50;  insurrection  in, 
314;  injury  sustained  by,  437; 
Provisional  Governor  for,  459; 
Governor  Clarke  summons  in 
surgent  Legislature  of,  459; 
secession  ordinance  declared 
null  and  void,  460;  slavery 
abolished  in,  460;  people  ad 
vised  to  form  a  patrol,  461; 
disorder  in,  462;  General  Slo- 
cum  prevents  organization  of 
militia  in,  462;  freedmen  of, 
463;  election  in,  464;  conflict  of 
civil  and  military  authorities, 
464;  supremacy  of  military  in, 
464;  November  legislation  of, 
475;  practical  revival  of  black 
code  in,  480;  spirit  of  recon 
structed  Legislature,  482;  char 
acter  of  reorganized  govern 
ment,  488 

Monroe  Doctrine,  Northern  Dem 
ocrats  and  Republicans  adhere 
to,  392;  Mexico  to  be  con 
quered  under  pretence  of  de 
fending,  393 

Morrill,  Justin  S.,  President  John 
son  visited  by,  458 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  Governor, 
President  Johnson  interviewed 
by,  442 


INDEX 


521 


McClellan,  electors,  protest  of,  34; 
ticket  in  Tennessee  withdrawn, 

McClellan,  George  B.,  General, 
proclamation  concerning  slaves, 
145;  instructions  to,  152;  col 
lapse  of  Richmond  campaign 
of,  178;  Union  army  again 
commanded  by,  184;  Lee  de 
feated  by,  186;  vote  for  Presi 
dency  received  by,  339 

McCulloch,  General,  79 

McDougall,  James  A.,  on  admis 
sion  of  Mr.  Segar,  139;  Lin 
coln's  letter  to,  165-166 

McDowell,  General  Irwin,  treat 
ment  of  fugitive  slaves  by,  144 

McDowell,  J.  L.,  inquiry  concern 
ing  fugitive  slaves,  147 

N 

TSJAPOLEON  in,  50;  policy  of, 
391 

Nashville,  occupation  of,  10;  panic 
in,  ii ;  occupied  by  General 
Nelson,  15;  Governor  Johnson 
arrives  in,  15;  Governor  John 
son  addresses  people  of,  15; 
mayor  and  council  imprisoned, 
17;  press  under  restraint,  17; 
treatment  of  clergymen  in,  17; 
Union  convention  at,  21;  action 
of  convention,  21;  public  meet 
ing  at,  27;  convention  at,  29; 
convention  of  January,  1865, 
30;  Legislature  meets  at,  32 

National  Conservative  Union 
party,  negro  suffrage  opposed 
by,  421;  reconstruction  policy 
of  Mr.  Johnson  endorsed  by, 
421;  Mr.  Wells  nominated  for 
governor  by,  422 

Navy,  proportions  of,  286 

Negroes,  free,  elective  franchise 
asked  by,  55;  North  Carolina 
denies  franchise  to,  452;  condi 
tion  of,  in  Mississippi,  463; 
testimony  of,  464;  numbers  in 


Texas,  467 
Nelson,  General, 


enters  Nashville, 


Nelson,  Thomas  A.  R.,  9 
New  Hampshire,  President  John 
son  addresses  citizens  of,  442 


New  Mexico,  12 

New  Orleans,  State  troops  from, 
seize  Federal  property,  36;  en 
thusiasm  in,  37;  bankruptcy 
of,  37;  importance  to  Con 
federacy,  38;  capture  of,  38; 
results  of  Federal  occupation 
of,  39;  members  of  court  of 
record  arrive  in,  43;  excepted 
from  emancipation  proclama 
tion,  47;  menaced  by  Gen 
eral  Taylor,  49;  General  Shep- 
ley  forbids  election  in,  56; 
amount  of  taxes  paid  by,  58; 
without  civil  government,  58; 
extent  of  the  State  of  Louisi 
ana,  75;  constitutional  conven 
tion  in,  75;  unqualified  voters 
enrolled  in,  418;  new  registra 
tion  in,  418;  J.  Madison  Wells 
nominated  by  convention  held 
in,  420 

Newport  News,  fugitive  slaves  ar 
rive  at,  144,  386 

New  York,  electoral  vote  not 
counted  in  Washington's  elec 
tion,  326 

Nicolay  and  Hay.  See  Hay  and 
Nicolay 

Noell,  John  W.,  on  admission  of 
West  Virginia,  118;  inquiry  of, 
164 

Norfolk,  Va.,  destitution  in,  133 

North  Carolina,  Union  victories 
in,  10;  secession  spirit  in,  150; 
insurrection  in,  314;  injuries 
sustained  by,  436;  Provisional 
Governor  appointed  for,  448; 
"loyal  people"  of,  452;  suf 
frage  withheld  from  negroes  of, 
452;  nearly  all  counties,  choose 
delegates,  453;  ordinance  of  se 
cession  repealed  by,  454;  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in,  454;  payment 
of  rebel  debt  prohibited  by, 
455  >  adjournment  of  conven 
tion,  455;  convention  ordi 
nances  ratified,  457;  election 
unsatisfactory  to  President 
Johnson,  457;  Thirteenth 
Amendment  ratified  by,  457; 
Congressmen  chosen  by,  457; 
why  President  began  recon 
struction  policy  with,  458 


522 


INDEX 


HGLESBY,  GOVERNOR, 

^  President  Johnson  visited  by, 
440 

Ohio,  western  Virginians  assisted 
by  troops  of,  98 

Olin,  Abraham  B.,  on  admission 
of  West  Virginia,  116 

Olustee,  battle  of,  a  result  of  ad 
ministration  policy,  253 

Orange,  William,  Prince  of,  203 

Orleans,  courts  established  in,  41 


PAINE,  COLONEL,  arrest  of, 
r  169 

Parker,      Granville,      anti-slavery 

work  of,  108 
Parliament,  absolute  power  vested 

in,  203 
Patterson,  David  T.,  election  of, 

413 

Patterson,  General,  proclamation 
relative  to  slaves,  145 

Peabody,  Charles  A.,  appointment 
of,  42 

Peace  and  Constitutional  Society, 
in  Arkansas,  81 

Pea  Ridge,  battle  of,  82 

Pendleton,  George  H.,  reconstruc 
tion  speech  of,  257;  votes  re 
ceived  by,  for  Vice-Presidency, 

339 

Pensacola,  Florida,  Louisiana  sol 
diers  vote  at,  70 

Perry,  Nehemiah,  reconstruction 
address  of,  250 

Phelps,  General  John  S.,  alleged 
opposition  to  rule  of,  38;  mili 
tary  governor,  82 

Pierce,  E.  L.,  labor  of  abandoned 
slaves  organized  by,  160,  386; 
Lincoln  interviewed  by,  160 

Pierpont,  Francis  Harrison,  chos 
en  Governor  of  restored  Vir 
ginia,  101;  inauguration  of, 
101;  views  of  the  Constitution, 
102;  message  of,  109;  address 
of,  128;  elected  Governor,  129; 
duties  of,  133;  protests  against 
military  interference,  134;  ap 
plication  for  assistance,  191; 
Lincoln's  telegram  to,  426; 


Lincoln  visited  by,  426;  recep 
tion  at  Richmond,  427;  the 
problem  confronting,  428 

Plaquemines,  voting  in  parish  of, 
56;  vote  of,  74 

Poland,  similarity  of  ideas  lacking 
in,  237 

Polk,  President  James  K.,  message 
of,  13 

Pollard,  E.  A.,  quotation  from 
"  Lost  Cause  "  of,  400 

Pool,  John,  election  of,  457 

Pomeroy,  Samuel  C,  on  electoral 
vote  of  Louisiana,  330;  amend 
ment  offered  by,  337;  remarks 
on  reconstruction  by,  376;  ex 
tent  of  Congressional  power 
over  reconstruction  stated  by, 

377 

Port  Hudson,  General  Banks  at, 
49;  fall  of,  49 

Portsmouth,  Va.,  Union  vote  in, 
132;  destitution  in,  133 

Powell,  Lazarus  W.,  remarks  on 
Louisiana,  331;  recognition  of 
Louisiana  opposed  by,  344; 
General  Banks  denounced  by, 
346;  proclamation  of  Banks 
quoted  by,  347;  remarks  on 
Trumbull's  resolution  by,  373 

Property,  Federal,  seizure  of,  in 
Baton  Rouge,  36 


R 


"DALEIGH,  convention  assem 
bles  at,  453 

Raymond,  Lincoln's  letter  to,  163 

Reade,  Edwin  G.,  North  Carolina 
convention  presided  over  by, 
453;  farewell  address  of,  455 

Reconstruction,  in  Tennessee,  i; 
Lincoln's  proclamation  of,  23; 
in  Louisiana,  36,  44,  61;  loyal 
minority  authorized  to  restore 
States,  25;  Lincoln's  plan  not 
indispensable  to,  26;  interrupt 
ed  in  Louisiana,  49;  Lincoln's 
letter  relative  to,  51;  President 
urges  in  Louisiana,  52;  Banks's 
plan  of,  66;  proposed  for  Ar 
kansas,  85;  Lincoln's  letters  on, 
89;  in  Louisiana  connected 
with  war  powers  of  President, 
36;  emancipation  introduced 


INDEX 


523 


,into,  189;  theories  and  plans 
of,  190;  central  idea  of  Lin 
coln's  plan,  190;  both  parties 
agree  on  Presidential  plan,  193; 
great  number  of  theories  and 
plans  of,  193;  difficulties  of,  in 
creased  by  abolition,  194;  Lin 
coln  propounded  only  one  plan 
of,  194;  "  Louisiana  plan  "  and 
negro  suffrage,  195;  sensation 
caused  by  Sumner's  scheme  of, 
198;  final  work  of,  influenced 
by  Sumner's  resolutions,  199; 
Stevens's  theory  of,  211;  first 
act  of,  a  modification  of  Ste 
vens's  theory,  212;  theory  held 
at  commencement  of  rebellion, 
213;  Democratic  theory  of,  217; 
Edgerton's  speech  on,  219;  atti 
tude  of  Democratic  party  tow 
ard,  220;  conservative  views  of 
Senators  on,  220;  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  on,  220;  resolution 
of  Thaddeus  Stevens  concern 
ing,  224;  resolution  of  Henry 
Winter  Davis,  225;  address  of 
Mr.  Davis,  226;  of  Southern 
States  premature,  230;  Presi 
dent's  plan  criticised  by  Mr. 
Davis,  232;  address  of  Repre 
sentative  Scofield  on,  236;  ad 
dress  of  Representative  Will 
iams  on,  238;  indemnity,  se 
curity  and  punishment,  ele 
ments  of,  240;  bill  opposed  by 
Mr.  Baldwin,  241 ;  address  of 
Representative  Thayer  on,  242; 
remarks  of  Representative  Yea- 
man  on,  243;  address  of  Rep 
resentative  Longyear  on,  244; 
speech  of  Ignatius  Donnelly 
on,  245;  speech  of  Representa 
tive  Dennison,  247;  remarks  of 
Thaddeus  Stevens  on,  247;  bill 
opposed  by  Representative 
Strouse,  249;  opposition  of  Mr. 
Cravens,  249;  Representative 
Gooch  on,  250;  Representative 
Perry's  remarks  on,  250;  Fer 
nando  Wood's  opposition  to 
bill  for,  251;  remarks  of  Will 
iam  D.  Kelley  on,  252;  speech 
of  S.  S.  Cox  on,  252;  Mr.  Bout- 
well's  speech  on,  254;  speech  of 
George  H.  Pendleton,  257;  bill 


for,  unconstitutional,  258;  Rep 
resentatives  pass  bill  on,  262; 
provisions  of  bill  on,  262;  Sen 
ator  Wade  on,  264;  Senator 
Carlile's  speech  on,  267;  Con 
gress  passes  bill  on,  273;  Lin 
coln's  treatment  of  bill  on,  273; 
interest  of  Mr.  Chandler  in  bill 
on,  274;  Lincoln's  proclamation 
concerning  bill  on,  277;  notice 
of  in  annual  message,  286; 
progress  of,  287;  forced  upon 
attention  of  Congress  by  Union 
victories,  288;  Mr.  Ashley  re 
ports  bill  on,  289;  Representa 
tive  Eliot  offers  amendment  to 
bill  on,  289;  provisions  of 
Ashley's  bill,  289;  revived  bill 
recognizes  Louisiana  and  Ar 
kansas,  289;  new  bill  a  substi 
tute  for  Wade-Davis  bill,  290; 
Kelley's  speech  on,  291;  Eliot's 
speech  on,  292;  consideration 
of  bill  postponed,  295;  Mr. 
Dawes  resumes  debate  on,  295; 
power  conferred  on  President 
by  bill,  296;  remarks  of  Fer 
nando  Wood  on,  300;  speech 
of  Mr.  LeBlond  on,  300;  re 
marks  of  Representative  Blow, 
301 ;  speech  of  J.  K.  Edgerton, 
301;  Edgerton's  summary  of 
bill,  302;  substitute  for  Ashley's 
bill,  304;  further  remarks  of 
Ashley  on,  305;  Ashley  ex 
plains  compromise,  306;  Henry 
Winter  Davis  speaks  on,  306; 
Mr.  Davis's  last  words  in  Con 
gress  on,  310;  Mr.  Wilson's 
bill,  311;  revival  of  Ashley's 
bill  on,  312;  defects  of  Presi 
dential  plan  of,  358;  Howard's 
speech  on,  358;  Reverdy  John 
son's  remarks  on,  370;  Sumner 
proposes  conditions  of,  376; 
remarks  of  Senator  Clark,  376; 
remarks  of  Senator  Pomeroy, 
377,  378;  Presidential  plan  of, 
ignored  by  Congress,  385;  Lin 
coln's  conditions  for  effecting, 
395.  397;  Lincoln's  letter  to 
General  Hurlbut  on,  401;  Lin 
coln's  letter  to  General  Canby, 
402;  Lincoln's  last  words  on, 
403;  culmination  of  Presidential 


524 


INDEX 


plan  of,  407;  President  John 
son's  policy  of,  endorsed  by 
Democratic  convention,  420; 
views  of  Louisiana  Republicans 
on,  422;  Andrew  Johnson's 
views  of,  in  1864,  438;  Johnson 
under  no  obligation  to  accept 
Lincoln's  plan  of,  447;  Mr. 
Johnson's  policy  of,  449;  steps 
to,  in  Mississippi,  458;  ob 
stacles  to,  in  Texas,  467;  con 
ventions  called  under  Presi 
dential  plan,  468;  course  of 
Confederate  governors  relative 
to,  469;  Lincoln's  intention  to 
employ  Confederate  legisla 
tures  in  work  of,  470;  expected 
results  of,  473;  prediction  of 
Henry  Winter  Davis  relative 
to,  473;  enemies  of  Union  en 
trusted  with,  486;  Lincoln  op 
posed  a  loose  system  of,  486; 
Lincoln's  and  Johnson's  the 
ories  identical,  487;  organiza 
tions  effected  under  Lincoln 
different  from  "Johnson  gov 
ernments,"  487;  Johnson's  orig 
inal  policy  of,  488;  acts  of 
Congress  suspend  governments 
established  under  Presidential 
plan,  489;  Joint  Committee  on, 
400;  Presidential  plan  exam 
ined,  491;  the  suffrage  in  the 
Presidential  system  of,  494; 
precedent  conditions  for  return 
ing  States,  494;  Senator  Hen 
derson's  letter  on  Lincoln's 
plan,  495 

Rector,  Governor,  call  for  troops, 
81 ;  threat  of  seceding  from 
Confederacy,  82;  flight  of,  82 

Red  River,  General  Taylor  retires 
to,  50 

Republican  electoral  ticket,  none 
offered  for  suffrage  of  Tennes- 
seeans  in  1860,  7 

Republican  form  of  government, 
Sumner's  resolutions  relative 
to,  196;  position  that  war  was 
fought  to  fulfil  guaranty  of, 
untenable,  209;  Henry  Winter 
Davis  on,  228;  duty  of  Con 
gress  to  guarantee,  228;  Mr. 
Davis  on  modes  of  establishing, 
232;  Fernando  Wood  on,  251; 


Pendleton  on,  259,  260,  261; 
Carlile  on,  268,  269;  cannot 
originate  in  military  orders, 
357;  military  government  not 
republican  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  368 

Republican  party,  radical  members 
of,  unite  with  Free  State  lead 
ers,  74;  Sumner's  resolutions 
disavowed  by  leaders  of,  199; 
relations  of  Stevens  to,  216; 
change  in  attitude  of,  220; 
revolutionary  policy  of,  257; 
beginning  of  division  in,  273; 
some  radical  members  of,  op 
posed  controversy  with  Presi 
dent,  289;  schism  in,  313; 
change  in  sentiments  of,  377; 
Hendricks  on  factiousness  of, 
380;  mass-meeting  in  New  Or 
leans  held  by  radical  members 
of,  422 

Representation,  basis  of,  354 

Representatives,  House  of,  com 
mittee  on  compensated  eman 
cipation  appointed  by,  168; 
reconstruction  views  of,  220; 
reconstruction  bill  passed  by, 
262;  Ashley's  reconstruction 
bill  tabled  by,  311,  312;  resolu 
tion  of  Mr.  Wilson  introduced 
into,  314;  measure  excluding 
electoral  votes  of  certain  States 
passed  by,  314;  constitutional 
amendment  abolishing  slavery 
passed  by,  384 

Revenue,  surplus  of  1837,  distribu 
tion  of,  157 

Revolution,  American,  legal  forms 
not  ignored  in  effecting,  206 

Revolution,  English,  202 

Reynolds,  General,  report  on  gov 
ernment  of  Arkansas,  412 

Rhode  Island  cases,  228 

Richmond,  Arkansas  messenger 
sent  to,  80;  secession  conven 
tion  meets  in,  93;  work  of 
convention  denounced,  100; 
fall  of,  426 

Richmond  government,  offers 
concessions  to  western  Vir 
ginia,  97;  resistance  to,  97 

Riddell,  John  Leonard,  certificate 
from,  56 

Riley,  General  Bennett,  13 


INDEX 


525 


Ritchie,  A.  R,  letter  to  Attorney- 
General  Bates,  105 

Rogers,  A.  A.  C,  Congressman- 
elect,  91;  proposed  compensa 
tion  of,  342 

Rosecrans,  General  W.  S.,  inac 
tivity  of,  21 ;  suggestion  to  Lin 
coln,  23;  removed  from  com 
mand,  23,  224 

Ryers,  William,  election  of,  412 


g  A  U  L  S  B  U  R  Y,  WILLARD, 
103;  on  admission  of  Mr. 
Segar,  139;  admission  of  West 
Virginia  Senators  opposed  by, 
193;  Administration  criticised 
by,  377 

Schenck,  General,  251 

Schofield,  General,  Governor 
Holden  assisted  by,  453 

Schurz,  General  Carl,  Governor 
Sharkey  criticised  by,  462 

Scofield,  Glenni  W.,  address  of, 
236 

Sebastian,  William  K.,  resignation 
from  United  States  Senate,  85; 
return  to  loyalty,  85 

Secession,  in  Tennessee,  8;  Ten 
nessee  abrogates  act  of,  30; 
spirit  of,  in  Louisiana,  36; 
ordinance  of,  36;  in  Arkansas, 
78;  Germans  and  Irish  of  Ar 
kansas  indifferent  to,  80;  in 
Virginia,  93;  western  Virginia 
refuses  to  acquiesce  in,  97;  war 
powers  unlocked  by,  213;  atti 
tude  of  Democratic  party  tow 
ard,  218;  Henry  Winter  Davis 
on,  227;  Pendleton  on  acts  of, 
259;  Henderson  on  potency  of, 
351;  Sumner  denies  that  States 
were  taken  out  of  Union  by, 
35i 

Secessionists,  in  Arkansas,  77 

Segar,  Joseph  E.,  on  admission  of 
West  Virginia,  118;  remarks  of, 
131;  Committee  of  Elections 
reports  concerning,  131;  denied 
admission  to  Congress,  133; 
election  to  United  States  Sen 
ate,  138 


Senate,  The  United  States,  recon 
struction  bill  in,  264;  exclusion 
of  States  from  Electoral  Col 
lege,  315;  Trumbull's  resolution 
abandoned  by,  383;  amendment 
abolishing  slavery  passed  by, 
384 

Seward,  William  H.,  on  admission 
of  West  Virginia,  120;  General 
McClellan  instructed  by,  152; 
Lincoln  broaches  emancipation 
to,  178;  postponement  of  eman 
cipation  recommended  by,  182; 
Lincoln's  letter  to,  395;  in 
juries  prevented  attendance  at 
inauguration  of  Mr.  Johnson, 
408;  message  to  Governor  Mar 
vin,  488;  President  Johnson  in 
fluenced  by,  489 

Sharkey,  William  L.,  appointment 
of,  459;  address  of,  460;  John 
son's  telegram  to,  461 ;  conduct 
of,  criticised  by  Carl  Schurz, 
462;  negro  testimony  to  be  con 
sidered  by,  464 

Shelbyville,  Tenn.,  Andrew  John 
son's  address  at,  19 

Shenandoah  Valley,  discontent  of, 
96;  proposed  annexation,  to 
West  Virginia,  109 

Shepley,  General  George  F.,  ap 
pointment  of,  39;  system  of 
courts  established  by,  41;  Lin 
coln's  letter  to,  44;  requested  to 
hold  an  election,  45;  proclama 
tion  for  an  election  issued  by, 
45;  plan  of  Louisiana  Free 
State  Committee  approved  by, 
48;  Attorney  -  General  for 
Louisiana  appointed  by,  48; 
orders  an  enrollment  of  loyal 
citizens,  53;  election  prohibited 
by,  56,  58;  conference  of  Free 
State  Committee  with,  63;  dis 
agreement  with  General  Banks, 
64,  65 ;  General  Banks  approves 
registration  of,  68;  Norfolk 
proclamation  of,  134 

Sheridan,  General  Philip  H.,  at 
Mission  Ridge  and  Lookout 
Mountain,  23;  a  Confederate 
army  destroyed  by,  288 

Sherman,  John,  on  election  of  Mr. 
Segar,  140;  on  electoral  vote  of 
Louisiana,  332 


526 


INDEX 


Sherman,  General  Thomas  W.,  in 
structions  of  War  Department 
to,  149 

Sherman,  General  William  Tecum- 
seh,  projected  march  of,  286; 
safety  of,  288 

Shreveport,  movement  toward,  51; 
ceases  to  be  capital  of  Louisi 
ana,  419 

Slavery,  abolition  of,  in  British 
colonies,  6;  to  be  ignored  in 
reconstruction,  27;  Nashville 
convention  urges  abolition  of, 
29;  amended  Tennessee  consti 
tution  abolishes,  30;  constitu 
tion  of  Arkansas  abolishes,  88; 
introduction  into  Virginia,  94; 
in  the  Wheeling  convention, 
107;  Lincoln's  views  of,  143; 
Congress  claims  no  right  to 
interfere  with,  167;  advance  of 
Northern  opinion  on,  167;  abol 
ished  in  District  of  Columbia, 
167;  not  possible  for  negroes 
freed  by  war,  194;  reconstruc 
tion  rendered  more  difficult  by 
abolition  of,  194;  ceases  to  exist 
when  State  ceases  to  exist,  197; 
duty  of  Congress  to  put  an  end 
to,  197;  recognition  of,  by  a 
Federal  officer  analogous  to 
treason,  197;  government 
should  protect  persons  in  a 
state  of,  198;  Chicago  platform 
on,  207;  Emancipation  Procla 
mation  not  necessary  to  abol 
ish  in  seceding  States,  207; 
destruction  of,  not  an  end  of 
the  war,  222;  the  one  subject 
of  estrangement  in  the  Union, 
237;  theory  of  the  Fathers  con- 
cerning,  237;  anti  -  slavery 
amendment  recommended  to 
consideration  of  Congress,  287; 
Congress  passes  joint  resolu 
tion  relative  to,  288;  restoration 
useless  with,  352;  sentiments  of 
Massachusetts  and  South  Caro 
lina  on,  375;  not  affected  by 
emancipation  proclamation  in 
certain  States,  384;  Congress 
passes  anti-slavery  amend 
ment,  384;  amendment  ratified 


by    20    States,    384;    Arkansas 
abolishes,   410;    Virginiz 


rirginia   abol 


ishes,  425;  abolition  an  injury 
to  slave  owners,  433;  North 
Carolina  abolishes,  454;  Missis 
sippi  abolishes,  460;  Georgia 
abolishes,  466 

Slaves,  bred  in  Virginia,  94;  num 
ber  in  Virginia,  94;  in  western 
Virginia,  95;  policy  of  com 
manders  relative  to  fugitive, 
144,  145,  158,  159;  declared 
contraband  of  war,  146;  com 
pensated  emancipation  of,  153; 
colonization  of,  I53_;  abandoned 
by  masters,  160;  to  organize 
labor  of  abandoned,  160;  Gen 
eral  Hunter  proclaims  freedom 
of,  168;  Lincoln  asserts  right  to 
emancipate,  168;  employment 
of,  169;  confiscation  of  property 
in,  179;  proposed  emancipation 
of,  182;  Stevens  on  employment 
of,  against  United  States,  212; 
abandoned  lands  to  be  colo 
nized  by,  385 

Slidell,  John,  resignation  from 
United  States  Senate,  423 

Slocum,  General,  organization  of 
Mississippi  retarded  by,  462; 
orders  of,  revoked  by  Presi 
dent,  463 

Smith,  Caleb  B.,  resignation  of, 
119 

Smith,  Charles,  Senator-elect  from 
Louisiana,  76,  343 

Smith,  General  E.  Kirby,  50 

Smith,  Governor  William,  nullity 
of  acts  of,  445 

Snow,  William  D.,  election  of,  91 

Society,  civil  not  necessarily  iden 
tical  with  political,  354;  politi 
cal  liable  to  reduction,  354;  po 
litical  may  be  reduced  by  loss 
of  citizenship,  354 

South  Carolina,  martial  law  pro 
claimed  over,  168;  Stevens  on 
secession  ordinance  of,  215; 
Boutwell  would  exclude  from 
restored  Union,  256;  insurrec 
tion  in,  314;  sentiments  on 
slavery,  375;  damage  sustained 
by,  435;  Mr.  Johnson  receives 
citizens  of,  443;  revolutionary 
character  of  convention,  469 

Southern  States,  reorganization  of, 
premature,  230;  black  code  of, 


INDEX 


527 


293;  an  asylum  for  broken- 
down  politicians,  297;.  proposed 
taxation  of,  297;  power  of  Con 
gress  over,  362;  not  convertible 
into  Territories,  364.  See  Con 
federate  States 

Speed,  Attorney-General,  reply  to 
Albemarle  County  voters,  430 

Sprague,  William,  remarks  on 
Louisiana  election,  381 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  aids  western 
Virginians,  98;  on  admission 
of  West  Virginia,  122;  dis 
banding  of  army  by,  409 

State,  indestructibility  of,  192;  sui 
cide  of  a,  197,  201,  209;  effect 
of  termination  of,  197;  slavery 
terminated  by  termination  of, 
197;  Federal  restraints  upon 
action  of  a,  198;  difficulty  of 
denning,  201;  basis  of  suicide 
theory,  208;  levying  war 
changes  status  of,  217;  the 
people  of,  constitute  the,  218; 
constitutions  must  be  formed 
by  people  of,  218;  only  suc 
cessful  revolution  can  unmake, 
218;  attitude  of  Democratic 
party  on  suicide  of,  219 

St.  Bernard,  parish  of,  voting  in, 
56 

Steele,  General  Frederick,  Lin 
coln's  letters  to,  85,  86,  89 

Stephens,  A.  H.,  peace  commis 
sioner,  395;  Lincoln's  advice 
to,  399 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  on  admission 
of  West  Virginia,  117,  214;  re 
construction  theory  of,  211; 
characteristics  of,  211;  consist 
ency  of,  212;  remarks  on  slaves 
employed  in  hostility  to  Gov 
ernment,  212;  taxation  of  se 
ceding  States  proposed  by,  213; 
secession  discussed  by,  215; 
relations  to  his  party  denned 
by,  216;  conquered  province 
theory  of,  217;  remarks  on 
minority  government,  217; 
resolution  relative  to  Presi 
dent's  message,  224;  on  consti 
tutional  amendments,  232;  re 
construction  speech  of,  247; 
distributing  President's  mes 


sage,  288;  Mr.  Eliot  interrupted 
by,  294;  remarks  of,  342;  cre 
dentials  of  Warmoth  offered 
by,  422;  sneer  at  Pierpont's 
government,  427 

Stokes,  William  B.,  election  of, 
415 

Strouse,  Myer,  reconstruction 
speech  of,  249 

Suffrage,  Representative  Kelley 
on,  291;  provisions  of  Ashley's 
bill  on,  294,  304;  a  restricted 
electorate  favored  by  Govern 
ment,  354;  basis  of,  354;  quali 
fications  for,  in  Massachusetts, 
354;  proposal  to  confer  on 
negroes,  358;  Reverdy  Johnson 
on,  378;  negroes  petition  for, 
413;  Brownlow  opposes  con 
ferring  on  negroes,  416;  Na 
tional  Conservative  party  on, 
421;  provision  of  Virginia  con 
stitution  on,  425;  North  did  not 
intend  to  force  on  South,  486 

Sumner,  Charles,  on  admission  of 
West  Virginia,  no;  letter  on 
policy  of  Lincoln,  170;  faith  of, 
191;  resolutions  of,  196;  sensa 
tion  produced  by  restoration 
scheme  of,  198;  letters  to  Fran 
cis  Lieber,  199,  289;  public 
character  of,  199;  letters  to 
John  Bright,  200,  290;  article 
in  Atlantic  Monthly,  200;  Mr. 
Blair  replies  to,  208;  preamble 
to  resolutions  of,  210;  proposal 
relative  to  emancipation  proc 
lamation,  272;  estimate  of  Lin 
coln,  275;  substitute  offered  by, 
344;  amendment  offered  by, 
356;  Reverdy  Johnson's  argu 
ment  with,  374;  inconsistency 
of,  375;  conditions  of  reunion 
proposed  by,  376;  remarks  on 
Trumbull's  resolution,  379,  382; 
Howard  and  Chandler  support 
position  of,  380;  remarks  on 
Louisiana  election,  382 

Sumter,  influence  of  fall,  on  Ar 
kansas,  78 

Supreme  Court,  The  United 
States,  opinion  in  Cross  vs. 
Harrison,  13;  decision  relative 
to  rebellious  States,  362 


528 


INDEX 


TPALIAFERRO,  ROBERT  W.. 
A     seat  in  Congress  claimed  by, 

34* 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  Chief  Justice, 
quoted  by  Mr.  Davis,  228 

Tarr,  Campbell,  98,  128 

Taylor,  Nathaniel,  attitude  of  loyal 
Tennesseeans  denned  by,  7; 
election  of,  415 

Taylor,  General  Richard,  37,  49,  SO 

Ten  Eyck,  John  C,  reconstruction 
bill  opposed  by,  273;  amend 
ment  offered  by,  315;  remarks 
in  support  of  amendment,  318; 
defeat  of  amendment  offered 
by,  334 

Tennessee,  Presidential  recon 
struction  in,  i;  no  Republican 

.  electoral  ticket  in,  7;  league 
with  Confederacy  authorized 
by,  8;  turns  military  force  over 
to  the  Confederacy,  8;  secession 
of,  8;  activity  of  loyalists  in,  9; 
proposed  dismemberment  of, 
9;  Confederates  losing  hold  of, 
10;  derangement  of  government 
in,  10;  Legislature  assembles 
at  Memphis,  15;  Andrew  John 
son  appointed  military  govern 
or  of,  15;  condition  in  the 
Union,  16;  judges  imprisoned, 
18;  reprisals  on  secessionists, 
18;  lawlessness  of,  18;  citizens 
in  Union  army,  20;  included  in 
department  of  General  Halleck, 
20;  ready  for  restoration,  21; 
free  from  armed  insurrection 
ists,  22;  emancipation  in,  22; 
excluded  from  effects  of  eman 
cipation  proclamation,  22,  384; 
enrolling  agent  sent  to,  27; 
county  elections  in,  27;  returns, 
28;  reconstruction  in,  29;  Presi 
dential  election  in,  29,  195; 
amended  constitution  of,  30; 
abrogates  act  of  secession,  30; 
bonds  of  disloyal  government, 
30;  constitution  ratified  by,  31; 
slaves  emancipated  in,  31; 
meeting  of  loyal  Legislature, 
31;  McClellan  electors,  35; 
electoral  vote  of,  35,  76,  129; 
Lincoln  maintains  legality  of 


government  in,  195;  Mr.  Davis 
on  Unionists  of,  230;  insurrec 
tion  in,  314;  electoral  vote  of, 
334;  exclusion  of  electoral 
votes,  338;  Cowan's  inquiry 
concerning  vote  of,  338;  Thir 
teenth  Amendment  ratified  by, 
412;  United  States  Senators 
chosen  by,  413;  disfranchising 
act  of,  413;  irregularities  in 
election,  414;  negroes  and  In 
dians  made  witnesses,  415; 
harshness  to  traitors  favored 
by,  414;  franchise  demanded  by 
freedmen  of,  415;  ravages  of 
war  in,  417;  insurrection  ended 
in,  444;  Joint  Committee  rec 
ommend  admission  of,  490 

Tennessee,  Bank  of,  notes  of,  ir 
redeemable,  30 

Tennessee,  East,  slavery  in,  3;  loy 
alty  of,  3;  services  in  Revolution, 
4;  resources  of,  4;  anti-slavery 
journals  in,  5;  abolition  move 
ment  in,  5;  a  thoroughfare  to 
the  south-west,  6;  Yancey  agi 
tates  in,  7;  treatment  of  loyal 
ists  in,  9;  importance  of,  21; 
convention  of,  revived,  29 

Tennessee,  West,  politics  influ 
enced  by  industries  of,  4;  mar 
tial  law  in,  15 

Texas,  expedition  into,  50,  51; 
insurrection  in,  314;  damages 
sustained  by,  437;  blockade  of, 
444;  appointment  of  Provision 
al  Governor  for,  467;  obstacles 
to  restoration  in,  467;  negro 
population  of,  467;  reconstruc 
tion  incomplete,  467;  not  rep 
resented  at  opening  of  Thirty- 
ninth  Congress,  490 

Thayer,  General,  89 

Thayer,  M.  Russell,  reconstruction 
address  of,  242 

Thomas,  Dorsey  B.,  counted  out, 
415 

Thomas,  General  George,  at  Mis 
sion  Ridge  and  Lookout 
Mountain,  23;  a  Confederate 
army  crippled  by,  288 

Thompson,  Jacob,  Mr.  Black's 
visit  to,  390 

Thompson,  General  Jefferson,  245 


INDEX 


529 


Treat,  Hon.  Samuel,  excerpt  from 
letter  of,  354 

Tribune,  The  New  York,  eman 
cipation  favored  by,  164; 
protest  of  Wade  and  Davis 
printed  in,  279 

Trumbull,  Lyman,  on  admission 
of  Mr.  Segar,  139;  remarks  on 
Crittenden  resolution,  221;  re 
construction  bill  opposed  by, 
273;  speech  on  Ten  Eyck's 
amendment,  316;  on  electoral 
vote  of  Louisiana,  321,  327; 
resolution  offered  by,  343; 
Sumner's  offer  to  amend  reso 
lution  of,  356;  Howard's  speech 
on  resolution  of,  358;  Wade 
moves  postponement  of  resolu 
tion,  378;  Powell's  speech  on 
resolution  of,  378;  consistency 
of,  380;  resolution  recognizing 
Louisiana  abandoned,  383 

Tyng,  Rev.  Doctor,  151 

U 

TJNDERWOOD,  JOHN  C, 
Senator-elect  from  Virginia, 
141 

Union,  dismemberment  of,  i;  ad 
mission  of  new  States  into,  207 

Union  army,  Arkansas  troops  in, 
83;  troops  of  restored  Virginia 
in,  109 

Union  associations,  demand  an 
election  in  Louisiana,  45;  dele 
gates  appointed  by,  47 

Unionists,  importance  of  Southern, 
3;  in  Louisiana,  37,  38,  47; 
Lincoln's  advice  to,  38;  num 
bers  in  Arkansas,  77;  loyalty  in 
Arkansas,  88;  conflicting  views 
of,  88;  difficulty  of  enlisting  in 
Virginia,  133;  oath  of  allegiance 
taken  by,  in  North  Carolina, 
150;  Henry  Winter  Davis  on 
Southern,  231 

Union  party,  vote  of,  in  West  Vir 
ginia,  129 

United  States,  The,  policy  toward 
conquered  provinces,  12;  Ten 
nessee  promised  republican 
form  of  government  by,  16; 
oath  of  allegiance  required  of 
Louisiana  voters,  45;  policy 


toward  loyal  minorities,  105, 
349;  policy  toward  South  after 
rebellion,  190;  number  of  States 
not  diminished  by  secession, 
192;  republican  governments 
obligatory  on  members  of,  208; 
duty  of  each  to  be  represented 
in  Congress,  208;  union  of, 
perpetual,  218,  219;  Chase's 
dictum  concerning  nature  of, 
219;  Government  not  to  inter 
fere  in  affairs  of  States,  220; 
authorized  to  impose  condi 
tions  on  returning  States,  366; 
demand  for  revenue  felt  by, 
409;  disloyal  governments  not 
recognized  by,  409 

Universal  Emancipation,  The 
Genius  of,  5 

Upshur  County,  emancipation 
favored  by  citizens  of,  108 


VAN  WINKLE,  P.  G.,  election 

of,  128 

Vicksburg,  surrender  of,  49 
Virginia,  rebel  government  abro 
gated  in,  10;  loyalists  without 
civil  government,  93;  secession 
of,  93;  opposition  to  secession 
in,  94;  physical  features  of,  94; 
slavery  introduced  into,  94; 
slaves  in,  94;  historical  part  of, 
94;  birthplace  of  many  illus 
trious  Americans,  94;  settle 
ment  of  trans-Alleghany  region, 
95;  population  of  western,  95; 
sympathy  of  people  in  western, 
95;  representation  in  Legisla 
ture,  96;  taxation  in,  96;  power 
in  hands  of  slaveholders,  96; 
dismemberment  of,  discussed, 
96;  danger  of  insurrection  in, 
96;  change  of  representation  in, 
96;  expenditure  of  revenue,  96; 
concessions  to  western,  97; 
western  refuses  to  acquiesce  in 
secession,  97;  the  disloyal  in, 
97;  State  officials  favor  seces 
sion,  97;  Federal  Government 
aids  western,  98;  ravages  of 
war  in  western,  98;  movement 
for  dismemberment,  98;  seces 
sion  denounced  by  Clarksburgh 


53° 


INDEX 


meeting,  99;  State  government 
reconstituted,  100;  Legislature 
of  restored  government,  102; 
election  of  United  States  Sen 
ators,  102;  State  of  Kanawha  to 
be  erected  in,  105;  dismember 
ment  ratified,  107;  convention 
of,  107;  Legislature  meets,  109; 
Legislature  consents  to  forma 
tion  of  new  State,  no;  Assem 
bly  consents  to  transfer  of 
Berkeley  County,.  126;  act  an 
nexing  counties  to  West  Vir 
ginia,  127;  transfer  of  Berkeley 
and  Jefferson  counties,  127;  op 
position  to  transfer,  127;  re 
moval  of  capital,  129;  Legis 
lature  passes  convention  bill, 
130;  who  were  voters  in,  130; 
amended  constitution  of,  130; 
civil  in  conflict  with  military 
authorities,  134;  Legislature 
meets,  137;  attitude  of  Con 
gress  and  army  toward,  138; 
feebleness  of  restored  govern 
ment,  138;  admission  of  Sena 
tors  from,  141  ;  disloyal  govern 
ment  discusses  emancipation, 
162;  United  States  should  pro 
tect  loyalists  of,  191;  electoral 
vote  from  restored  government, 
314;  slavery  in  parts  of,  except- 
ed  from  emancipation  procla 
mation,  384;  division  perma 
nent,  399;  constitution  of  1864, 
425;  suffrage  in,  425;  slavery 
abolished  in,  425;  prohibitions 
on  Legislature,  425;  President 
Johnson  recognizes  govern 
ment  of  Pierpont,  427,  445; 
ravages  of  war  in,  427;  steps 
to  restoration  of,  428;  election 
in,  431;  acts  of  secession  au 
thorities  void,  445;  acts  of  Con 
gress  to  be  enforced  in,  446; 
Alexandria  ceases  to  be  capital 
of,  446 


WADE,  BENJAMIN  R,  bin 

for  admission  of  West  Vir 
ginia  reported  by,  no;  remarks 
on  admission  of  West  Virginia, 
Hi;  reconstruction  bill  report 


ed  by,  264;  address  of,  264; 
protest  of,  with  Henry  Winter 
Davis,  279;  character  of,  283; 
on  electoral  vote  of  Louisiana, 
333;  remonstrance  offered  by, 
343  ^  postponement  of  Trum- 
bufl's  resolution  moved  by, 
378;  motion  to  postpone,  de 
feated,  379;  Louisiana  election 
criticised  by,  381 

Wade-Davis  bill,  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  passes,  262;  Senate 
passes,  273;  President's  action 
on,  273;  President's  proclama 
tion  concerning,  277;  revival  of, 
290;  no  provision  for  negro 
suffrage  in,  494 

War,  expenses  of,  161;  condition 
of  cessation  of,  161,  397;  obli 
gations  between  States  abro 
gated  by,  214;  Crittenden  reso 
lution  on  objects  of,  221;  ob 
jects  of,  364;  vindictiveness 
engendered  by,  393 

Ward,  Artemus,  186 

War  Department,  application  of 
part  of  contingent  fund  of,  43 

Warmoth,  Henry  C,  election  of, 
422;  elements  of  political 
strength  possessed  by,  423 

Washburne,  Elihu  B.,  remarks  of, 
342 

Webster,  Daniel,  prediction  of,  126 

Welles,  Gideon,  on  admission  of 
West  Virginia,  122;  Lincoln 
broaches  emancipation  to,  178; 
quotation  from  diary  of,  178; 
narrative  of,  188 

Wells,  J..  Madison,  proclamation 
of,  418;  General  Banks  not  in 
harmony  with,  418;  address  of, 
419;  qualifications  of  voters  de 
fined  by,  420 

Wells,  T.  M.,  seat  in  Congress 
claimed  by,  341 

Wellsburgh,  meeting  at,  97;  ap 
pointment  of  commissioners 
by,  98;  arms  and  ammunition 
stored  at,  98 

West  Virginia,  Congress  admits 
Senators  from,  104,  193;  prose 
cution  of  war  favored  by,  104; 
stay  law  passed  by,  104;  of 
revolutionary  origin,  105;  con 
vention  for,  107;  slavery  in, 


INDEX 


107;  vote  on  constitution,  109; 
vote  on  emancipation,  no; 
Senate  bill  for  admission  of, 
no;  allotment  of  Representa 
tives  to,  no;  Sumner  on  ad 
mission  of,  no;  proposal  to 
prohibit  slavery  in,  in;  Sen 
ate  on  admission  of,  no; 
Senate  passes  bill  to  admit, 
113;  House  bill  for  admission 
of,  113;  House  on  admission 
of,  113;  House  passes  bill  for 
admission,  119;  Lincoln  ap 
proves  bill  for  admission  of, 
125;  constitutional  amendment, 
125;  convention  approves  con 
stitution,  126;  constitution  rati 
fied  by  voters,  126;  becomes  a 
State,  126;  Berkeley  County 
transferred  to,  126;  proposal 
to  annex  counties  to,  127; 
election  in,  128;  inauguration 
of,  128;  United  States  Senators 
chosen  by,  128;  opposition  to 
admission  of  Senators  from, 
128;  Democrats  alienated  by 
President's  recognition  of,  193; 
Stevens  finds  no  warrant  in 
constitution  for  admission  of, 
214;  strong  enough  to  maintain 
a  loyal  government,  230 
Wheeling,  delegate  convention  at, 
99;  resolutions  adopted  by  con 
vention  of,  100;  adjournment 
of  convention,  101;  convention 
reassembles  at,  104 


Whiskey  Insurrection,  effects  on 
status  of  Pennsylvania,  335 

White,  R.  T.  J.,  88 

Whittaker,  John  S.,  41 

Wickliffe,  Charles  A.,  Lincoln  in 
terviewed  by,  165 

Willey,  Waitman  T.,  election  of, 
103,  128;  admitted  to  seat,  104; 
on  admission  of  West  Virginia, 
112;  remarks  on  credentials  of 
Mr.  Segar,  138,  140 

Williams,  General,  treatment  of 
fugitive  slaves  by,  159 

Williams,  Thomas,  reconstruction 
address  of,  238 

Wilson,  Henry,  on  recognition  of 
restored  Virginia,  140 

Wilson,  James  F.,  previous  ques 
tion  on  Ashley's  bill  demanded 
by,  295;  reconstruction  bill  in 
troduced  by,  311;  joint  resolu 
tion  introduced  by,  314 

Wisconsin,  electoral  vote  of,  316 

Wood,  Fernando,  reconstruction 
bill  opposed  by,  251;  remarks 
on  Ashley's  bill,  300;  remarks 
on  Wilson's  bill,  312 


VANCEY,  WILLIAM  L.,  7 

Yeaman,  George  H.,  recon 
struction  address  of,  243 


AFRICAN  AFRO-AMERICAN 
COLLECTION 

This  hook  is  due  on  the  last 
Taped  be)  v 


